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Lembit Öpik: To save time, I will ask the hon. Gentleman two questions. Can he confirm that the Conservative party is pledging not to cut the crime and policing budget? Secondly, would he agree that one good way to find money for 500 extra police officers in Wales would be not to introduce the identity card. Most people in Wales would prefer 500 more bobbies on the beat to a piece of plastic.
Mr. Wiggin: The hon. Gentleman's own wrestling with the identity card debate is one thing, but I can tell him that our pledge at the next general election will be for more police officers in Wales—an extra 2,199. The funding for that would come not from the asylum budget, and that has been widely publicised, nor from the ID card budget. I believe that we have talked about that in this Committee in the past.
This year's Queen's Speech has been marked by an absence of any legislation that would reduce the huge burden of targets and unnecessary bureaucracy that hinders, not helps, our public services. We have seen no measures that will make a distinct difference to the economy and employment in Wales, and no measures to improve the disastrous state of the health service, to improve cleanliness in Welsh hospitals or to reduce waiting lists. We have seen no moves to promote freedom and independence for health and education professionals or effective choice for patients and parents. We have seen nothing to tackle failures in school discipline. I am afraid that the problems in Wales remain unresolved.
2.31 pm
Albert Owen: It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Leominster (Mr. Wiggin), but I cannot say that I agree with much that he says. For the record, one of the issues that he raised must be made clear: detection rates in the North Wales authority have improved during the past few years. The figures that he was quoting were from 1998, but they are
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going up year on year. That is a result of investment under this Government.
Mr. Wiggin: I hope that the hon. Gentleman is right. Unfortunately, the figures do not seem to show that. If that turns out to be true in north Wales, let us welcome that, but I do not think that it is borne out by statistics.
Albert Owen: I do not have the figures in front of me, but I was quoting the Home Office figures. They are not my figures, but the Home Office's.
Mr. Edwards: Does my hon. Friend agree that if the Conservative members of the Welsh Affairs Committee came on Select Committee visits, such as the one to north Wales last week, they would hear the situation directly from chief constables and if they had any queries they could put them directly to the chief constables? However, they hardly ever attend.
Albert Owen: My hon. Friend makes a good point. In fact, the last time that we saw a Conservative Member at the Select Committee was when he was having a spat for the media with the chief constable—nothing to do with the real crime issues that affect people in Wales.
The British media had set out its response to both the Queen's Speech and the pre-Budget statement weeks before the announcements were made in this House. Fear and black holes were the buzz words used by the press, and sadly many of the Opposition parties followed that line. However, under those negative headlines were good measures to tackle the real issues that our constituents raise with us.
I welcome the fact that we have two Wales-only Bills in the Queen's Speech, and that there are 11 Welsh clauses in other measures announced in that speech. I shall concentrate a little later on the draft Transport (Wales) Bill, because I believe that it is good for Wales and good for my constituency. I also welcome the Queen's Speech and the pre-Budget statement together, because they are good news for Welsh communities, for pensioners and for families.
I am particularly pleased about the draft Consumer Credit Bill, which has not been mentioned to a great extent in the media or in the House. As someone who works closely with advice agencies, including Citizens Advice, I know that that is welcomed by them. The Bill will give greater protection against loan sharks. We should all welcome that, and give it more prominence. Debt in our communities is a big issue, and we should be prepared to deal with it on a cross-party basis.
I also welcome the emphasis on safe communities—that phrase means to me safe local, national and international communities, and I believe that the Queen's Speech addressed that. We need more antisocial behaviour legislation, although the evidence gathered by the Welsh Affairs Committee tells us that the measures that have already been introduced are making a real difference. The chief constables say that they had the additional resources, and now they have the tools with which to deal with nuisance behaviour and crime and disorder.
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The Chancellor's pre-Budget statement was also good news for pensioners in my constituency, where almost 7,000 households contain a pensioner aged over 70 who will, in the coming year, receive an extra £50 in fuel allowance. That is not a gimmick; it is a meaningful bonus for the most vulnerable people in society. I understand the need for a mixture of universal and means-tested benefits if we are to target and assist the poorest pensioners and to work towards alleviating pensioner poverty. The strong—
Hywel Williams (Caernarfon) (PC) rose—
Hon. Members: Ah!
Hywel Williams: I am still on a Virgin train, at least in my thoughts. What would the hon. Gentleman say to splitting the payments so that some pensioners could take advantage of a lump sum in the summer, when coal is cheaper? That point has been put to me by constituents on a number of occasions.
Albert Owen: It is a fair point, but a universal benefit has to be administered on a large scale by computer, and the best way to do that is to have a cut-off date. At present, that date is 26 September, and everybody receives it during the financial year. Many pensioners tell me that they welcome it in the colder weather—particularly those who have oil central heating and other means of heating their homes. My point is that it is a universal benefit that goes straight to the most vulnerable people. Although it goes to all the households, it can target the poorest through means testing. However, I concede the hon. Gentleman's point. It was a good intervention.
The strong and stable economy is beginning to bear fruit in my constituency, which is scarred by many decades of mass unemployment and mass depopulation. Our claimant count has fallen by 49 per cent. since 1997 and there is increased job opportunity. There are now more jobs in Ynys Môn than there have been for a generation, and business confidence is up. Those facts were given to me not by party members but by the Federation of Small Businesses and the Anglesey Tourism Association, two of whose members attended a reception with me at No. 10 Downing street last night. They outlined their support for the Government's policies, which are helping business in Anglesey. Indeed, according to reports in the Daily Post—I always believe what I read in the Daily Post—and Office for National Statistics figures, Anglesey now has the second highest take-home wages in north and mid-Wales, a far cry from the situation two decades ago, when they were among the lowest. Things are moving in the right direction.
Ynys Môn is building on major infrastructure and transport improvements, rolling out broadband to rural and urban communities across Anglesey. The investment in the A55, which is now complete, is reaping benefits, as are the investments in the west coast main line and the port of Holyhead. Transport infrastructure is vital to peripheral areas such as Ynys Môn. That is why I want to concentrate my remarks on the Welsh transport Bill. The Bill gives the Assembly a wide range of transport-related powers to implement a safe, fully integrated transport policy. When I talk about full integration, I do mean road,
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rail, sea and air. It is appropriate that we talk about transport today, because Andrew Davies, Assembly Minister for Economic Development and Transport, this morning announced in principle a north-south air service between RAF Valley in my constituency and Swansea and Cardiff. Such a measure will help to bridge the north-south gap. It is excellent news for my constituents, and for the whole of north-west Wales, and it is good news for business. Many in the business community want to travel throughout Wales.
Lembit Öpik: Will the hon. Gentleman accept my gratitude for his interest in this subject? Does he agree that one way of ensuring that we have a viable long-term service would be to have a west coast service and an eastern border service, which would include Welshpool—
Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab): And a central one?
Lembit Öpik: Well, a central-eastern border service. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there should be enough business to sustain such an arrangement and that even with 25 to 30 passengers a day, it would make a substantial difference? Does he agree that there are probably 25 to 30 people a day who would be willing to make the journey and for whom the most important factor would be the time that they would otherwise waste?
Albert Owen: I am grateful for that intervention, because I know that the hon. Gentleman, like me, has campaigned for an air service in Wales. I agree that there is the potential for other services, but as he is well aware, there was a consultation exercise, and many bids were put in. Today, Andrew Davies has favoured Anglesey for the first section, and I am pleased about that. However, there is the potential for an intra-Wales service throughout the country, and the figures could stack up simply on the basis of the reduction in road journeys.
This morning's announcement was also good news for tourism in my area. The port of Holyhead accommodates many cruise liners from around the world, and more people will now have the opportunity to join or leave vessels in the port, which will be a boon because they would normally go to France or the south coast of England.
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