Answers to the Written Assembly Questions for answer on 10 March 2010

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

Contents

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

Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services

Questions to the Minister for Heritage

Questions to the Representataive of the Assembly Commission

To ask the Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning

Kirsty Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire): Will the Minister make a statement on his plans for the teaching of sex education in religious schools, with reference to the Children, Schools, and Families Bill currently being considered in Westminster. (WAQ557732)

Answer issued on 11 March 2010

The provisions in the Children, Schools and Families Bill with regard to sex education relate to England only. There are no plans to alter the current position in Wales.

All maintained schools, including faith schools, are required to have a policy with regard to the provision of sex education. Sex education policies should be culturally and religiously appropriate, inclusive of all learners and sensitive to the needs of the local community. Faith schools may apply a particular religious ethos through their sex education policy working within statutory requirements and taking note of guidance issued by the Welsh Assembly Government.

To ask the Minister for Health and Social Services

Brian Gibbons (Aberavon): By LHB, what is the expenditure on bank and agency nursing in Wales. (WAQ55728)

Answer issued on 11 March 2010

The information is not available for the new configuration of LHBs until the audited accounts are submitted in June 2010.

Brian Gibbons (Aberavon): How is adverse events reporting used by LHB governance bodies to improve clinical care. (WAQ55729)

Brian Gibbons (Aberavon): How does the Welsh Assembly Government monitor adverse events reporting in the NHS in Wales. (WAQ55730)

Answer issued on 11 March 2010

Local Health Boards provide reports on patient safety incidents to their Quality and Safety Committees so that lessons can be learned locally and improvements made in patient care.  Patient safety incidents are reported to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) to improve patient care at a national level.  The Welsh Assembly Government monitors patient safety incident reporting through the NPSA’s Quarterly Data Summary Wales reports and organisation level summaries.

To ask the Minister for Heritage

Kirsty Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire): Will the Minister provide an explanation, together with a full breakdown, of the £927,000 in the supplementary budget for Museums and Libraries to fund redundancy payments (WAQ55727)

Answer issued on 11 March 2010

£690,000 revenue funding is being provided to compensate Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales for the one-off costs incurred as a result of a voluntary redundancy and early retirement process carried out in 2009-10.  This cost includes monies towards the Museum’s pension scheme to ensure that the Scheme's deficit is not increased as a result of the redundancies.

£237,000 revenue funding is being provided to the National Library of Wales for the one-off costs incurred as a result of a voluntary early retirement process carried out in 2009-10.  The £237,000 will be used to compensate the Library’s Pension Scheme to ensure that the Scheme’s deficit is not increased as a result of the early retirements.

This funding will assist our national institutions in these difficult economic times.

To ask the Representative of the Assembly Commission

Angela Burns (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire): What consideration has the Commission given to the provision of PDF writer software for all Assembly members and their staff. (WAQ55731)

Answer issued on 10 March 2010

Assembly Commissioner for the Assembly and the Citizen, Peter Black AM:

The next upgrade to Members’ ICT will include PDF writer software, which will be provided as part of the upgraded Microsoft Office product.  This software was one of many packages discussed with Members and their support staff during the i-Change project, and the results of that exercise have led to the inclusion of PDF writer software in the Assembly’s Unification of the Network for the Organisation project (UNO), which is due to be delivered during the Autumn term.