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Foot and Mouth

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has made to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on the spread of foot and mouth disease. [152413]

Mr. Byers: I and my Department are in regular contact with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food over this issue.

Working Time Regulations

Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will estimate the number of employees in London who were not entitled to paid holidays as a result of the coming into force of the Working Time Regulations. [152206]

Mr. Alan Johnson: The available information relates to the number of employees in London who, before the introduction of the Working Time Regulations were receiving less than the minimum stated in the Regulations. When the Regulations came into force it is estimated that 270,000 employees in the London area were receiving less than three weeks' paid leave per year. A further 70,000 are estimated to have been receiving more than three weeks but less than four weeks paid leave, and would therefore benefit when the amount of paid leave was increased from three to four weeks in November 1999.

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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Ministerial Visits

Sir Brian Mawhinney: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the Ministers in her Department who visited any of the constituencies which are in the Peterborough Unitary Authority area between 1 January 2000 and 14 February 2001, indicating in each case (a) the date of the visit, (b) the constituencies included in the visit and (c) if the local hon. Member met the Minister. [151028]

Clare Short: Neither I, my hon. Friend the Member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes) as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, or my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin) in his role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development visited the Peterborough Unitary Authority between 1 January 2000 and 14 February 2001.

Medicines (South Africa)

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she discussed with the South African Government the legal action being pursued by GlaxoSmithKline concerning the amended South African Medicines Act during her recent visit to South Africa; and if she will make a statement. [152137]

Clare Short: I did not have the opportunity to discuss this legal action with the South African Government during my recent visit to South Africa. I believe that negotiations with pharmaceutical companies on price and licensing offers the best way of balancing the need for affordable access to drugs with the need for intellectual property protection to encourage future research. The legal action is regrettable, but it is a matter between the pharmaceutical companies and the Government of South Africa.

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what meetings she had during her recent visit to South Africa with the pharmaceutical companies pursuing a legal action against the amended South African Medicines Act; and if she will make a statement. [152138]

Clare Short: I did not have the opportunity to meet pharmaceutical companies during my recent visit to South Africa. I believe that negotiations with pharmaceutical companies on price and licensing offers the best way of balancing the need for affordable access to drugs with the need for intellectual property protection to encourage future research. The legal action is regrettable, but it is a matter between the pharmaceutical companies and the Government of South Africa.

WALES

Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if the special advisers working for him will relinquish their posts when the next general election is called. [149306]

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Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 13 February 2001, Official Report, column 130W.

Departmental Policies (Clwyd, South)

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Clwyd, South constituency, the effects on Clwyd, South of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150914]

Mr. Paul Murphy: As this question was originally addressed to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, my response relates to the effects of Government policies and actions on industry and the economy. Such effects are not normally measured by reference to constituencies, so it is not practicable to give information in the form requested. However, prior to the transfer of functions to the National Assembly on 1 July 1999, a range of all-Wales policy initiatives and other actions taken by my Department will have impacted on Clwyd, South and its residents. Details of these are set out in the Welsh Office departmental reports for 1998 (Cm 3915) and 1999 (Cm 4216), copies of which are in the Library.

Part of my hon. Friend's constituency is included in the west Wales and the valleys area, for which the Government secured objective 1 status at the Berlin European Council in 1999. Subsequently, in the July 2000 spending review, we made available additional funding, outside the Barnett formula, for the Welsh structural funds programmes. This also included provision for objective 3, which applies in the parts of Clwyd, South not covered by objective 1, and objective 2 which also applies in some parts of Clwyd, South.

Our new Assisted Areas map for the UK, which was formally approved by the European Commission in July 2000, also includes tier 1 coverage for that part of my hon. Friend's constituency which falls in Denbighshire.

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Clwyd, South constituency, the effects on Clwyd, South of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150913]

Mr. Paul Murphy: As this question was originally addressed to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, my response concentrates on the effects of my Department's policies and actions on health services prior to 1 July 1999, when responsibility for their provision transferred to the National Assembly for Wales.

Because of the way in which health services are organised, it is not practicable to provide information which is specific to my hon. Friend's constituency. The timing of financial and statistical exercises also means that some of the figures quoted relate to periods ending shortly before or shortly after 30 June 1999.

In October 1997, an additional £2.2 million was made available to North Wales Health Authority, over and above its financial allocation for the year, to provide enhanced patient care. The authority's basic allocation for 1998-99, at £381.3 million, represented a year-on-year cash increase of £14.2 million. This was further enhanced

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by £4.1 million in April 1998 to address waiting list issues, and £2.6 million in November for dealing with winter pressures.

Between annual counts taken in September 1997 and September 1999, the number of directly employed NHS nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in the area of the North Wales Health Authority increased by 267.4 in full-time equivalent terms. Over the same period, medical and dental staff increased by 29.8.

Health services in the Clwyd, South constituency will also have benefited from a range of important all-Wales policy initiatives which were developed between May 1997 and June 1999. These included:

Delivering Care--Meeting Need--a comprehensive package of measures for primary and community health care (1997);

Putting Patients First--which promoted a series of reforms for the NHS in Wales, such as the abolition of the internal market and GP fundholding, and the introduction of new structures such as Local Health Groups and Health Improvement Programmes (1998);

Better Health, Better Wales--a strategy for improving public health (1998);

Quality Care and Clinical Excellence--a programme for clinical effectiveness (1998);

Reconfiguration of NHS Trusts--a programme of mergers which reduced the total number of NHS Trusts from 29 to 16 (1999).

Forestry

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the transfer of responsibilities for forestry to the National Assembly for Wales. [150647]

Mr. Paul Murphy: Policy responsibility for Forestry Commission activities in Wales transferred to the National Assembly for Wales on 1 July 1999.

Expenditure (Wales)

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the total sums projected to be spent in Wales in (a) this financial year and (b) each of the next two financial years (i) by the Welsh Assembly and (ii) through direct spending by the Government of the UK. [152092]

Mr. Paul Murphy: It is currently estimated that total expenditure by the National Assembly for Wales will be £8,957.9 million in this financial year, £9,689.5 million in 2001-02, and £10,396.7 million in 2002-03, in resource terms.

There are no current estimates of the total direct UK Government expenditure in Wales during these years, but historical information for aggregate identifiable government spending by country/region is published in the annual public expenditure statistical analyses, which are placed in the Library of the House.

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