Answers issued to Members on 5 December 2007

[R] signifies that the Member has declared an interest.
[W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.

Contents

Questions to the First Minister

Questions to the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills

Questions to the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing

Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services

Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government

Questions to the First Minister

Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): Will the First Minister confirm how many civil servants within the Welsh Assembly Government are currently on Special Leave while awaiting re-deployment, and how much this is costing the Welsh Assembly Government. Can you please provide this information: a) for the Welsh Assembly Government as a whole; and b) broken down for each Ministerial department? (WAQ50757)

The First Minister (Rhodri Morgan): Across the Welsh Assembly Government there are currently two individuals who have until this week been on a short period of Special Leave whilst awaiting re-deployment. One was on a secondment, which terminated earlier than expected and at short notice we had to work with the individual to find a suitable alternative appointment. His original employing Department was Economy and Transport and he has now been placed in a new role within that Department with effect from 3 December. The cost to the Assembly Government has been equivalent to 2 months salary. The second member of staff has been on Special Leave for 2 weeks at minimal cost, as he is employed for 15 hours per week. His placement with the Equality and Human Rights Division came to an end and whilst we make every effort to place people as soon as secondments finish, there were extenuating circumstances in these cases.

Questions to the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills

Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): Will the Minister make a statement on the details of the trial project for the Appetite for Life project? (WAQ50736)

The Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (Jane Hutt): From September 2008 we will implement a 2 year Action Research Project to develop, and test the guidelines for implementing the food and nutritional standards proposed in the Appetite for Life Action Plan, and learn lessons from this project to inform wider application across all maintained schools in Wales.

The project will use a case study approach at two levels—at school and local authority—to draw out lessons for the wider application of the guidelines. The research will also seek to make an assessment of the costs involved in implementing the food and nutritional standards proposed in Appetite for Life. This approach will give us a more realistic picture of the issues facing schools and local authorities in introducing change.

Teresa Filipponi, our Appetite for Life Coordinator, has already begun working closely with local authorities to support the practical implementation of this initiative. To facilitate this work, she has set up four regional groups, to make it easier to disseminate information on the good work already carried out across authorities. It is the intention that one local authority from each of these four regional groups will participate in the action research project—this will help LEAs learn and share information arising from the project on an ongoing basis. The action research method proposed involves a dynamic cyclical process of review, planning and monitoring. It is also the intention that stakeholder workshops will take place throughout the lifetime of the project to facilitate learning and sharing of information as it arises, beyond those authorities/schools involved in the project, rather than waiting for interim reporting dates. The interim report will be disseminated as appropriate according to the nature of the report itself. It is anticipated that learning from the action research process will already have been shared across the groups mentioned above. Healthy school coordinators will have a key role to play in supporting schools in utilising this information to best effect.

Officials are currently developing a detailed specification for this project which will be available early in the New Year. The successful contractor will then be announced following a competitive tendering exercise.

Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Assembly Government’s strategy for the promotion of discipline in schools? (WAQ50737)

Jane Hutt: We have excellent teachers in Wales dedicated to the vital task of engaging our young people in learning. However, this is made more challenging by the small minority of pupils who regularly disrupt lessons. I am committed to supporting our teachers in the promotion of good behaviour in schools.

The Welsh Assembly Government issued guidance to schools and LEAs in November 2006 on the need to develop a whole-school approach to promoting positive behaviour. The Inclusion and Pupil Support guidance sets out schools’ and local authorities’ duties along with practical guidance on aspects such as the development of school behaviour policies, the application of sanctions for poor behaviour and the use of exclusions and detention.

We will be consulting on draft guidance and the use of powers in the Education and Inspections Act 2006 early in 2008, with a view to their commencement during the 2008-09 academic year. The powers cover general issues on behaviour as well as issues such as the confiscation of items and the definition of disciplinary penalties.

Welsh Ministers also have framework powers in the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to allow us to develop our own legislative approach in Wales to issues of school attendance, behaviour and discipline—including parental responsibilities for excluded pupils and the provision of education for excluded pupils.

The application of the framework powers must be based on clear evidence and developed through close consultation. For that reason we commissioned a major review of behaviour and attendance in Wales, which began in Autumn 2006.

The review is looking at current good practice in Wales, but also the areas where we need to improve to ensure that some of our most vulnerable young people can access the support they need to overcome the barriers to learning that they face.

The Steering Group has produce an initial interim report which was published on 1 September, 2007 and the final report is due to be published on 1 April 2008.

Questions to the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing

Mick Bates (Montgomeryshire): Would the Minister please give a breakdown of all agricultural land currently held by Urban Development Corporations in Wales (e.g. Newtown Development Corporation) which may be affected by proposals under the Housing and Regeneration Bill? (WAQ50733)

The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing (Jane Davidson): There are no Urban Development Corporations in Wales.

Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services

Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister outline how the Welsh Assembly Government assists those families affected by Hurler disease? (WAQ50759)

The Minister for Health and Social Services (Edwina Hart): The only treatment available until recently has been bone marrow transplantation. The disease can now be treated by enzyme replacement therapy. The All Wales Medicines Strategy Group has recently approved the use of a drug called Laronidase, and I have made funding available to Health Commission Wales to develop a service at the University Hospital of Wales.

Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): How is the Welsh Assembly Government working with health providers to ensure that patients with Hurler disease have access to community care services? (WAQ50761)

Edwina Hart: Hurler's disease is one of a group of rare inherited conditions that leads to a debilitating lifelong illness. Whilst traditionally an untreatable condition in which only supportive measures could be used, in recent years, it has been treated with enzyme replacement therapy that can provide a significant improvement in quality of life for the sufferer.

While this new therapy has enormous benefits for the newly-diagnosed sufferer, the healthcare professionals dealing with the condition are equally aware of the importance of long-term community care for existing sufferers and work closely with their social service colleagues to assess and provide community care needs.

Mike German (South Wales East): What are the costs and responsibilities apportioned to the CNO and CMO in the new Department of Public Health and Health Professions? (WAQ50764)

Edwina Hart: The CNO responsibilities remain unchanged. CMO is the head of the new Department for Public Health and Health Professions and Nursing has joined other health professions within the Department. The total DRC budget of the Department is £6.021m of which professional nursing posts amount to £570k. Issues such as support are covered across the Department and are unable to be dis-aggregated.

Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government

Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): How may registered Class A drug users are there in Blaenau Ffestiniog? (WAQ50765)

The Minister for Social Justice and Local Government (Brian Gibbons): The Welsh National Database for Substance Misuse records information about those people engaging in treatment. It contains a breakdown of referrals by Community Safety Partnership and by identified problem. The second report, for 2006-07, can be found atwww.wales.gov.uk/substancemisuse.