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16 Jul 2003 : Column 321W—continued
WALES
Tourism
Mr. David: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many members of the public visited (a) Cardiff Castle and (b) Caerphilly Castle in 2001–02. [122813]
Mr. Touhig: Wales Tourist Board figures for the calendar years 2001 and 2002 are as follows.
| 2001 | 2002 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff Castle | 169,709 | 202,560 |
| Caerphilly Castle | 78,653 | 81,758 |
Civil Servants
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many new entrants to the civil service were employed in his Department in each of the last five years; and how many in each year were aged 50 or over. [119815]
Mr. Touhig: The Wales Office is staffed entirely by people on loan or secondment from other Departments. It is thus normally the case that new entrants to the civil service will have served for a period in their home department before coming to the Wales Office.
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Departmental Staff
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) special advisers, (b) press officers, (c) civil servants, (d) advisers to civil servants and (e) permanent staff were working for the Wales Office in each year since 1996. [126473]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office was created on 1 July 1999.
- (a) Until 12 June 2003 the Secretary of State for Wales had two special advisers, since then he has had one.
(b) Since its inception the Wales Office has had a complement of three press officers (there has also been one three-month inward secondment for training purposes).
(c) and (e) figures are published each year in the Departmental Report, the most recent of which was published in May 2003 as Cm 5928.
(d) None.
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what targets his Department has for improving energy efficiency; and how he intends to achieve these targets. [116643]
Mr. Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 580W.
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement, in relation to his Department, on (a) the amount of energy consumed, (b) spending on (i) energy and (ii) energy efficiency measures, (c) the amount saved through energy efficiency measures and (d) energy policy in each of the last five years. [108864]
Mr. Touhig: The small size of the Wales Office means that it is not autonomous on energy consumption and so meaningful figures are not readily available.
The Government's policy on energy efficiency in its own estate was described in the Energy White paper "Our Energy Future—Creating a Low Carbon Economy".
Euro
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he received the Treasury documents relating to the five economic tests and the 18 background studies; what discussions he has held with ministerial colleagues on the tests since receipt of the documents; when he expects to complete his analysis of the documents; and what representations (a) he and (b) departmental officials will make to other Departments before a decision is reached on the economic tests. [115380]
Mr. Hain: The Treasury's 18 supporting studies on EMU were sent to Cabinet Ministers on 16 May 2003. My right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Chancellor held meetings with Cabinet Members. There was an initial discussion at Cabinet on 22 May 2003, followed by a special Cabinet meeting on 5 June 2003. The Chancellor made a statement to the House of Commons on 9 June 2003.
16 Jul 2003 : Column 323W
European Constitution
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with colleagues in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about the legislative competencies covered by the draft European constitution. [124860]
Mr. Hain: I have had regular discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
Gwydwr House (Disabled Access)
Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations his Department has received from disabled people about plans for a new access to Gwydwr House. [122995]
IT Contracts
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many outsourced IT contracts have been signed by his Department in each year since 1997; how much each of these contracts is worth; with whom they are signed; how many have been renegotiated; how many are still in place; and if he will make a statement. [126208]
Mr. Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave the hon. Member for Teignbridge (Richard Younger-Ross) on 11 February 2002, Official Report, column 43W.
Mobile Phones
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the cost was to his Department of mobile phones supplied to ministers and officials in each year since 1997. [123136]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office was created in July 1999. Information is not available before April 2000. Since that date expenditure has been:
- 2000–01—£7,546
2001–02—£6,266
2002–03—£6,472
April–June 2003—£1,832
Official Spelling
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy that official (a) correspondence, (b) reports and (c) documentation from his office uses the English spelling of words where this differs from the US version. [118866]
Mr. Touhig: The Wales Office complies with the guidance issued by the Cabinet Office on the handling of ministerial and other correspondence and the use of plain written English.
16 Jul 2003 : Column 324W
Partnership Agreement
Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he plans to conclude a partnership agreement with the trade unions representing the staff in his Department. [117446]
Mr. Touhig: Staff working in the Wales Office are all on secondment or loan from other Government Departments and so it would be more appropriate for any partnership agreement to be with the home departments rather than the Wales Office.
Steel Industry
Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary of the National Assembly for Wales on the future of the steel industry in Wales. [121938]
Mr. Hain: I have regular meetings with the First Minister of the National Assembly for Wales and discuss a wide range of issues including the steel industry in Wales.
Latest developments for the steel industry in Wales are encouraging. For example, Corus recently announced investment into its "Living Solutions plant" at Shotton, which is expected to create up to 200 jobs.
Corus also recently announced a major three year contract with Associated British Ports (ABP) to ship finished steel coils world-wide from its Swansea and Newport operations. This comes with an investment of £800,000 from ABP for a new 37 ton capacity crane.
Additionally, Celsa recently announced that they expect to increase production output beyond that of the former Allied Steel and Wire Holdings Group plc plant in Cardiff. This will be a gradual build up from Celsa restarting production operations next month, with full roll-out of its operations at the end of this year. Celsa will employ a direct workforce of 400, with a further 200 subcontracted.
I welcome these very positive developments for an industry that has had more than its share of difficult times.
Written Ministerial Statements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many written ministerial statements have been made by the Wales Office since 29 October 2002. [126611]
- Wales Departmental Expenditure (28.02.03)
Public Sector Ombudsman Service (Wales) (11.03.03)
Public Audit (Wales) Bill (01.04.03)
16 Jul 2003 : Column 325W
PRIME MINISTER
Access to Government Information
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister whether he was consulted over the decision by the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor and the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to issue a notice on 23 June under section 11(3) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration regarding a complaint under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information relating to ministerial conflicts of interests. [126448]
The Prime Minister: The work of the Ombudsman is important, and the Government are working with the Ombudsman to develop a Memorandum of Understanding on co-operation between the Ombudsman's office and Government Departments.
Information relating to internal discussion and consultation on the issue of a notice under section 11(3) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 is not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
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