Written Assembly Questions tabled on 1 December 2015 for answer on 8 December 2015
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 Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty
Mark Isherwood (North Wales): What will happen to core funding, including EU funding, for the Families First programme after the current funding period ends? (WAQ69524)
Answer received on 4 December 2015
The Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty (Lesley Griffiths):
The late timing of the UK Government's Spending Review poses a range of challenges for budget planning.
A detailed consideration of the future funding arrangements for the Families First programme is currently underway and we will continue to work closely with Local Authorities.
To ask the Minister for Education and Skills
Mark Isherwood (North Wales): What information does the Welsh Government have available on A-level results, broken down by type of special educational need or disability? (WAQ69519)
Answer received on 9 December 2015
The Minister for Education and Skills (Huw Lewis): Information on A level results by type of SEN is in the table below. Data are for schools only.
Mark Isherwood (North Wales): What information does the Welsh Government have on the numbers of deaf young people taking further education courses, apprenticeships and traineeships by age? (WAQ69520)
Answer received on 9 December 2015
Huw Lewis:
In 2013/14 the numbers of learners aged under 25 considering themselves to have a hearing impairment impacting on their ability to learn were 195 for Further Education learners, 60 for Apprentices (across all levels) and 40 for learners on Traineeship programmes. These learners are categorised by age group in Table 1.
Table 1: Numbers of learners at FE institutions or pursuing apprenticeship or traineeship programmes in 2013/14 who were aged under 25 and had a hearing impairment impacting on their ability to learn
| Age group | FE | Apprentices | Traineeships |
| Institutions | (all levels) | ||
| Under 16 | 10 | 0 | * |
| 16 | 40 | 10 | 10 |
| 17 | 40 | 5 | 10 |
| 18 | 30 | 5 | 10 |
| 19 | 20 | 10 | * |
| 20 – 24 | 55 | 30 | 0 |
| Total (under 25) | 195 | 60 | 40 |
Source: Lifelong Learning Wales Record
Notes:
- Figures are for learners who considered themselves to have a hearing impairment impacting on their ability to learn.
- The FE institution figures exclude learners pursuing work-based learning programmes to avoid overlap with the remaining columns.
- Age is as at 31 August 2013.
- Figures are rounded to nearest 5 with * representing values between 1 and 4.
- Totals are rounded independently from the source data and may therefore differ from the sum of the separately rounded components.
Mark Isherwood (North Wales): What information does the Welsh Government have on success rates for deaf young people undertaking apprenticeships? (WAQ69521)
Answer received on 9 December 2015
Huw Lewis
The work-based learning apprenticeship framework success rate for learners aged under 25 with a hearing impairment impacting on their ability to learn, was 90 per cent for 2013/14 (based on a cohort of around 20 learners).
Source: Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR)
Mark Isherwood (North Wales): What information does the Welsh Government have on the onward destination for deaf learners leaving higher education? (WAQ69522)
Answer received on 9 December 2015
Huw Lewis:
This level of information is not held centrally by Welsh Government.
Mark Isherwood (North Wales): What information does the Welsh Government have on the number of deaf young people not in education employment and training (NEET)? (WAQ69523)
Answer received on 9 December 2015
Huw Lewis:
The Welsh Government does not hold any information on the number of deaf young people not in education, employment and training (NEET).
The headline measure of NEET is a statistical estimate rather than a count of young people and cannot therefore be disaggregated beyond gender and age group, and survey data cannot provide this level of detail.
To ask the Minister for Finance and Government Business
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): With reference to the oral Statement on Procurement (1/12/2015) in which you stated that "public sector contracts can preclude the involvement of small, local suppliers" will the Minister publish copies of any evidence that has been received relating to the barriers faced by smaller businesses in public procurement? (WAQ69526)
Answer received on 9 December 2015
The Minister for Finance and Government Business (Jane Hutt): In 2009 I commissioned Bangor University and Glamorgan University to research, 'Barriers to Procurement Opportunity'. Further reports were published by the two Universities in 2012. All these reports have been published and can be accessed through the Procurement Route Planner. The direct links to the reports are listed below:
http://prp.gov.wales/docs/prp/generalgoodsservices/130617barrierstoprocurement.pdf
http://prp.gov.wales/docs/prp/toolkit/140217lot1barriersresearchEUcompliance.pdf
http://prp.gov.wales/docs/prp/toolkit/140217lot3barriersresearchlowvalueadvertising.pdf
http://prp.gov.wales/docs/prp/toolkit/140217lot2barriersresearchprocurementombudsman.pdf
http://prp.gov.wales/docs/prp/toolkit/140217lot4barriersresearchqualityoffeedback.pdf
Also in 2012, I tasked John McClelland to review the Impact of Procurement Policy in Wales, and his report of the same name was published in August 2012 on the Welsh Government website. These reports provided me with the evidence necessary to develop and publish the Wales Procurement policy Statement.
More recently we have seen reports published by the Cross Party Group on Construction, 'Impact of Procurement Policy in Wales', from the Royal Society of Architects in Wales, 'A Procurement Plan for Wales' and most recently Constructing Excellence in Wales' 'No Turning Back' review. Listening to business is important to me and these reports will help shape procurement policy and regulation.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): How many Welsh SMEs at present are utilised by public procurement policy, and how does this compare for the last three financial years? (WAQ69527)
Answer received on 9 December 2015
Jane Hutt: Available expenditure information from the public sector spend in Wales has not previously enabled identification of spend going specifically to Welsh SMEs. However I have taken steps to address this and the new spend analysis provision, led by the National Procurement Service, will capture this detail moving forward.
I am however able to report that Welsh SMEs have won 143 places on the 23 NPS frameworks let to date, and work continues to ensure future frameworks utilise Welsh procurement policy to deliver positive results.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): What measures is the Minister taking to increase the use of Welsh SMEs in public procurement policy? (WAQ69528)
Answer received on 9 December 2015
Jane Hutt: The Wales Procurement Policy Statement requires procurement practice that delivers maximum economic benefit to Wales through adoption of its ten principles. Welsh SMEs are critical to the economic well being of Wales and as such our procurement policy, tools and guidance have all been developed with this in mind. Policies like community benefits ensure the value offered by Welsh SMEs is considered and measured. I have also worked to reduce barriers to bidding and simplify and standardised processes to ensure the tender process does not preclude smaller suppliers from winning public sector contracts. Our approaches to low value advertising, tools like the SQuID, and most recently our guidance on Joint Bidding are having a very positive impact for our smaller suppliers.
Welsh procurement policy is now further supported by the Public Contract Regulations 2015, which means bidding for public contracts will be quicker and less costly, enabling suppliers to compete more effectively. The new powers secured will be used to further ensure that public bodies in Wales adopt our SME friendly policies.
To ask the Minister for Health and Social Services
Kirsty Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire): Will the Minister provide a breakdown of the costs associated with the Welsh Government reorganisation of NHS Wales which came into effect on 1 October 2009? (WAQ69525)
Answer received on 11 December 2015
The Minister for Health and Social Services (Mark Drakeford):
The costs of the 2009 reform were managed by NHS organisations within their available funding. The Welsh Assembly Government provided £2.897 million funding to Health Boards to enable them to meet the additional costs charged by the Wales Audit Office for auditing a mid-year set of accounts. With this exception, no additional funding was made to Health Boards for the reorganisation.