Written Assembly Questions tabled on 1 November 2016 for answer on 8 November 2016
R - Signifies the Member has declared an interest.
W - Signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
(Self-identifying question no. shown in brackets)
Written Questions must be tabled at least five working days before they are to be answered. In practice, Ministers aim to answer within seven/eight days but are not bound to do so. Answers are published in the language in which they are provided, with a translation into English of responses provided in Welsh.
To ask the First Minister
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the First Minister confirm how much money the Welsh Government has spent on supporting veterans from the Armed Forces in the past year, 3 years and 5 years? (WAQ71355)
Answer received on 4 November 2016
The First Minister (Carwyn Jones): We have spent £844,115.07 in 2015-16, £352,6936.73 over the past three years and £409,2376.73 over the past 5 years. This has supported veterans with health, education, housing and support for wellbeing.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the First Minister confirm on how many occasions in the past 18 months he has met with representatives from charities, organisations and third sector groups supporting Armed Forces veterans? (WAQ71356)
Answer received on 4 November 2016
Carwyn Jones: In the past 18 months I have attended 16 meetings, services and events with the Armed Forces and their representatives.
The Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children, who has responsibility for the Armed Forces community, has also attended numerous events, meetings and services over the last 18 months.
To ask the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure
Lynne Neagle (Torfaen): Will the Minister make a statement on the outcome of discussions with the UK Government's Department for Transport over the Wales and Borders Rail Franchise Map, including when the agreed map will be published? (WAQ71354)
Answer received on 7 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure (Ken Skates): Discussions with the UK Government about the transfer of the next Wales and Borders franchise are ongoing, our aim is to see the current franchise map remain intact
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm how much Welsh government money has been provided to increase platform capacity at railway stations on the Valley Lines network, and a full breakdown of the specific stations, and the amount provided on each? (WAQ71364)
Answer received on 11 November 2016
Ken Skates: Since 2010 we have made investment in stations on the Merthyr, Treherbert, Aberdare, Rhymney valley lines. This has improved platform capacity in addition to delivering other improvements. The following figures are the total project costs.
Energlyn New Station £5.5m New station
Caerphilly Turn Back £4.9m additional platform at existing station and other rail infrastructure at existing station
Pontypridd Turn Back £5.8m additional platform at existing station and other rail infrastructure at existing station
Barry Turn Back £3.9m additional platform at existing station and other rail infrastructure at existing station
Tir Phil Loop (and new platform) £7.7m additional platform and other rail infrastructure at existing station
Merthyr Tydfil £750k station improvements including platform widening
Abercynon £250k station improvements including bringing more of the platform into use
We have provided the following funding on the Ebbw Vale line
Ebbw Vale £7.6m includes station and line infrastructure works
Pye Corner £1.3m contribution towards the cost of a new station
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm what discussions he has had with Network Rail and Arriva Trains Wales with regard to increasing the number of passenger services on the Vale of Glamorgan Line? (WAQ71365)
Answer received on 4 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure (Ken Skates): We are in regular dialogue with Network Rail regarding the completion of the Cardiff Area Signalling Renewal scheme which will enable more train services to operate on the Vale of Glamorgan Line. Regular discussions are also held with Arriva Trains Wales and the wider rail industry regarding the availability of additional rolling stock which would be necessary for any additional services or capacity improvements.
To ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport
Angela Burns (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire): Will the Minister confirm, broken down by practice, the total amount spent by local health boards on engaging locums to work in managed practices and the number of locum hours this spend equates to? (WAQ71367)
Angela Burns (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire): Will the Minister confirm the total amount spent by local health boards on engaging locums to work in managed practices over the last 12 months broken down by each local health board? (WAQ71368)
Angela Burns (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire): Will the Minister confirm the total number of hours of locum cover for managed practices that have been paid for by each local health board over the last 12 months? (WAQ71369)
Angela Burns (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire): Further to WAQ71009, will the Minister confirm the number of locum GPs engaged through contracts with local health boards to work in managed practices? (WAQ71370)
Answer received on 8 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport (Vaughan Gething): Welsh Government does not hold this information.
Angela Burns (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire): What steps are the Welsh Government taking to ensure the vigorous implementation of NICE guideline NG42 on motor neurone disease by the Health Boards and NHS Trusts? (WAQ71371)
Answer received on 7 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport (Vaughan Gething): I refer you to the answer provided on 20 October in reply to WAQ71224.
To ask the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm how many new homes were built in Wales in the past year, 3 years and 5 years, and will he confirm what proportion of these were built on brownfield sites? (WAQ71362)
Answer received on 7 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children (Carl Sargeant): The breakdown of new homes built in Wales in the past year, 3 years and 5 years is as follows:
6,900 new dwellings were completed across Wales in 2015-16
18,913 new dwellings were completed across Wales in the last 3 years
29,939 new dwellings were completed across Wales in the last 5 years.
We do not separately identify whether these were completed on brownfield sites.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister outline what steps he has taken to increase home ownership in Wales, and will he confirm how much money the Welsh Government has invested in projects to increase home ownership in Wales in the past year, 3 years and 5 years? (WAQ71363)
Answer received on 11 November 2016
Carl Sargeant: I continue to support home ownership schemes such as Help to Buy – Wales and Homebuy. In addition, I have recently announced additional routes into home ownership as part of the 20,000 affordable homes target for this term of government.
The investment breakdown in these projects is as follows:
£71.5m in 2015-16
£172.1m in the last 3 financial years
£176m in the last 5 financial years
To ask the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister provide a complete breakdown of the total amounts of Welsh Government grants provided to each local authority in Wales in the 12 months leading up to May 2016? (WAQ71357)
Answer received on 8 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government (Mark Drakeford): The following table provides a breakdown of Welsh Government grants between revenue, hypothecated and unhypothecated, and capital grants provided to each local authority in Wales in 2015-16 sourced from the Welsh Government finance system.
Suzy Davies (South Wales West): Following the answer to WAQ71316, what expectations does the Welsh Government have for local authorities to measure resident satisfaction following their setting of council tax levels? (WAQ71366)
Answer received on 8 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government (Mark Drakeford): Local authorities collect and take account of the views of their residents in many different ways. It is for each authority to carry out such activity at times and in ways which best reflect local needs and circumstances.
To ask the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm the total amount of all Welsh Government funding provided in grants for education services in Powys from May 2015 to present? (WAQ71358)
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm the total amount of all Welsh Government funding provided in grants for education services in Powys from May 2013 to May 2014? (WAQ71359)
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm the total amount of all Welsh Government funding provided in grants for education services in Powys from May 2014 to May 2015? (WAQ71360)
Answer received on 7 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Education (Kirsty Williams): The main Welsh Government funding for education in Powys, as for all Welsh Local Authorities, is funded through the Local Government Settlement. The Settlement is issued on a financial year basis (April to March) and is unhypothecated. It is up to each Local Authority to determine the funding they allocate for each service in line with their priorities and the needs of their communities.
In addition to the funding provided through the Settlement, the Welsh Government provides a number of specific hypothecated grants to Local Authorities and regional education consortia in Wales.
Local Authority revenue expenditure by service is published on the Welsh Government’s StatsWales website: https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Local-Government/Finance/Revenue/Education/educationrevenueexpenditure-by-authority-service.
Powys’ total education revenue expenditure for 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 was £115.8million, £113.6million, and £111.3million respectively. These figures include funding provided through the Settlement, education grants to Powys and grants provided regionally for school improvement from which Powys benefits.
In providing the information above I have assumed a focus on revenue funding.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm the publication date of the second evaluation of the implementation of Schools Challenge Cymru (SCC) in Pathways to Success schools (PtS), that were undertaken between May and July 2016? (WAQ71361)
Answer received on 4 November 2016
The Cabinet Secretary for Education (Kirsty Williams): As set out in my response to your Written Assembly Question on 4 November (WAQ71335), a second wave of Schools Challenge Cymru evaluation fieldwork was undertaken from May to July 2016, the results of which are currently being analysed. This analysis will incorporate the verified GCSE results when they are available from December, with a further report expected to be published in Spring 2017. Please note that this report will be published according to Government Social Research publications protocol. This protocol requires research outputs to be published within 12 weeks of an agreed draft. The date of publication will be pre-announced on the Statistics and Research pages of the Welsh Government website in advance of publication.