25/06/2007 - Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

[R] signifies that the Member has declared an interest.
[W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh. Contents Questions to the Minister for Budget and Business Management Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Public Service Delivery

Questions to the Minister for Budget and Business Management

Nerys Evans (Mid and West Wales): Will the Minister detail on what the Government plans to spend the additional £3m recently made available by the Chancellor? (WAQ50063)

The Minister for Budget and Business Management (Jane Hutt): I refer you to my answer to WAQ50051 on 20 June.

Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services

Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): What support will the Minister provide to local authority social services departments that face overspend? (WAQ50059) The Minister for Health and Social Services (Edwina Hart): The vast bulk of social services spending is funded through the unhypothecated revenue settlement, council tax and charges rather than specific grant. This allows councils the flexibility to set their own spending priorities and to manage in year pressures as they see fit, within their legal obligations. Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): What support will the Minister provide to Local Health Boards and NHS Trusts that face overspend in Wales? (WAQ50060) Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): Will the Minister provide a breakdown of Local Health Boards and NHS Trust budget surpluses and deficits in this financial year? (WAQ50062) Edwina Hart: The Welsh Assembly Government will not provide resource cover to organisations that make a deficit in 2007-08. The most recent returns from Regional Offices show that organisations in Wales are forecasting deficits totalling £34 million in 2007-08. The breakdown by health community is shown below:

Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

Community	Forecast Deficit £ million
Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust	2
North East Wales	3
Cardiff LHB	3
Ceredigion	2
Carmarthenshire	7
Swansea	14
Powys	3
TOTAL	34

Of the £34 million total forecast deficit, only the £2 million forecast deficit in Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been formally accepted in a recovery plan by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): Will the Minister detail the over/under-spend of every local authority Social Services department in Wales in the last financial year for which figures are available? (WAQ50061) Edwina Hart: The following table sets out the initial social services budget set by each local authority in 2005-06 (the latest full information available) and the reported outturn. The initial budget figure will not have taken account of any direct grants announced after the budget was set, nor changes in decisions on the use of reserves to fund services, but the outturn figure will reflect the full spend including any such direct grants and changes in the use of reserves. Local authority revenue outturn expenditure on social services, 2005-06

Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

Local Authority	Social Services Budget £ million	Reported Outturn £ million	Difference	%
Isle of Anglesey	26.5	27.7	1.2	5
Gwynedd	44.8	45.9	1.1	2
Conwy	49.4	49.9	0.5	1
Denbighshire	42.1	42.1	0.0	0
Flintshire	49.9	50.0	0.1	0
Wrexham	46.5	46.5	0.0	0
Powys	45.8	46.6	0.7	2
Ceredigion	27.2	29.5	2.3	9
Pembrokeshire	36.6	37.9	1.3	4
Carmarthenshire	61.6	65.3	3.7	6
Swansea	84.1	83.6	- 0.5	- 1
Neath Port Talbot	57.8	59.9	2.0	3
Bridgend	50.9	51.9	1.0	2
The Vale of Glamorgan	40.9	46.4	5.5	13
Rhondda Cynon Taf	100.2	107.5	7.3	7
Merthyr Tydfil	23.2	25.1	2.0	9
Caerphilly	65.1	70.8	5.7	9
Blaenau Gwent	31.1	31.0	- 0.1	0
Torfaen	34.5	36.9	2.5	7
Monmouthshire	30.7	29.3	- 1.4	- 5
Newport	52.3	57.8	5.5	11
Cardiff	113.2	122.8	9.6	9
Wales	1,114.5	1,164.7	50.2	5

Rhodri Glyn Thomas (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr): Will the Minister detail the number of redundancies made by the Meat Hygiene service for each year since 1999, associated costs, and reasons for redundancies? (WAQ50065)

Edwina Hart: The number of staff made redundant by the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) since 1 April 1999, and the payments made to those staff, are set out in the table below:

Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Leaving Reason	No of staff	Costs	No of staff	Costs	No of staff	Costs
Redundancy - Compulsory
Operational Staff	0	0	0	0	0	0
Non-operational Staff	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0
Redundancy - Voluntary
Operational Staff	5	10719.89	8	29463.42	1	0
Non-operational Staff	8	0	0	0	0	0
Total	13	10719.89	8	29463.42	1	0
Early Retirement
Operational Staff	0	0	1	4690.21	0	0
Non-operational Staff	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	1	4690.21	0	0
Grand total	13	10719.89	9	34153.63	1	0

Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Leaving Reason	No of staff	Costs	No of staff	Costs	No of staff	Costs
Redundancy - Compulsory
Operational Staff	0	0	0	0	2	4823.57
Non-operational Staff	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	2	4823.57
Redundancy - Voluntary
Operational Staff	0	0	2	51075.57	2	16469.06
Non-operational Staff	1	3345.92	0	0	0	0
Total	1	3345.92	2	51075.57	2	16469.06
Early Retirement
Operational Staff	0	0	0	0	1	13459.65
Non-operational Staff	0		1	6411	4	72286.37
Total	0	0	1	6411	5	85746.02
Grand total	1	3345.92	3	57486.57	9	107038.65

Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

	2005-06	2006-07
Leaving Reason	No of staff	Costs	No of staff	Costs
Redundancy - Compulsory
Operational Staff	8	72866.45	1	10556.97
Non-operational Staff	0	0	0	0
Total	8	72866.45	1	10556.97
Redundancy - Voluntary
Operational Staff	3	33846.95	26	199948.3
Non-operational Staff	1	10592.92	1	24432.03
Total	4	44439.87	27	224380.32
Early Retirement
Operational Staff	0	0	1	11495.42
Non-operational Staff	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	1	11495.42
Grand total	12	117306.32	29	246432.71

Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

	Totals
Leaving Reason	No of staff	Costs
Redundancy - Compulsory
Operational Staff	11	88246.99
Non-operational Staff	0	0
Total	11	88246.99
Redundancy - Voluntary
Operational Staff	47	341523.18
Non-operational Staff	11	38370.87
Total	58	379894.05
Early Retirement
Operational Staff	3	29645.28
Non-operational Staff	5	78697.37
Total	8	108342.65
Grand total	77	576483.69

Through inspection, verification, audit, and the enforcement of legislative requirements, the MHS is responsible for ensuring that Food Business Operators fulfil their responsibilities for the production of safe food and the protection of animal health and welfare in approved meat establishments in Great Britain (includes slaughterhouses and cutting plants). The MHS operates within a legislative context that requires a continual presence by its staff at slaughterhouses during meat production. MHS operational staffing levels in slaughterhouses are based on the hours of operation and speed of the slaughtering line. The MHS has an agreed procedure and process for dealing with redundancy situations which may arise. These situations are primarily driven by slaughterhouse closures or reductions in operating hours or speed, resulting in a requirement for fewer MHS staff. Wherever possible the MHS implements staffing reductions by seeking volunteers for redundancy from within the geographic area surrounding the plant(s) concerned. This approach generally avoids the requirement for compulsory redundancies, provided that the staff at risk take up the redeployment opportunities created elsewhere. A number of non-operational managerial staff were made redundant in 2003-04 and 2004-05 as a result of implementing an organisational change program. Rhodri Glyn Thomas (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr): Will the Minister detail the amount spent on frontline service delivery contract workers by the Meat Hygiene Service for each year since 1999? (WAQ50066) Edwina Hart: MHS expenditure on contract Meat Hygiene Inspectors and Official Veterinarians for the financial years from 1999-2000 to 2006-07 is:

Answers issued to Members on 25 June 2007

1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000
16,272	17,221	25,460	26,151	24,197	23,681	26,421	29,460

The MHS utilises the services of both contract Official Veterinarians (OVs) and contract Meat Hygiene Inspectors (MHIs) in licensed premises. Until 2004-5 the bulk of the costs related to contract OVs.

The significant increase in the level of expenditure in 2001-02 and beyond relates to the requirement to implement full-time Official Veterinarian supervision of full throughput licensed slaughterhouses from April 1 2001. This was required in order to comply with European Commission Meat Hygiene directives.

The further significant increase in expenditure from 2005-06 relates to the replacement of the Over Thirty Months (OTM) Rule* by a new system of BSE testing of OTM cattle for Human Consumption (OTMHC) with effect from 7 November 2005. This change led to a need for the MHS to contract for the services of additional Meat Hygiene Inspectors in order to meet the potential demands of red meat slaughterhouses wishing to slaughter OTM bovines for the human food chain.

* Under the OTM Rule, meat derived from bovine animals over 30 months of age (OTM), with very few exceptions, could not legally be sold for human consumption in the UK. The OTM Rule was introduced in 1996 as a BSE protection measure to prevent older cattle from entering the food chain. Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): What is the average starting salary of an NHS consultant in Wales according to records held by the Assembly Health and Social Services department? (WAQ50091) Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): What is the average starting salary of a NHS Trust Chief Executive in Wales according to records held by the Assembly Health and Social Services department? (WAQ50092) Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): What is the average starting salary of a LHB Chief Executive in Wales according to records held by the Assembly Health and Social Services department? (WAQ50093) Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): What is the average starting salary of an NHS dentist in Wales according to records held by the Assembly Health and Social Services department? (WAQ50094) Jonathan Morgan (Cardiff North): What is the average starting salary of an NHS General Practioner in Wales according to records held by the Assembly Health and Social Services department? (WAQ50095) Edwina Hart: This information is not held centrally.

Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Public Service Delivery

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications have been (a) accepted, and (b) rejected in each Welsh local authority for takeaways since the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50067)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications have been (a) accepted, and (b) rejected in each Welsh local authority for public houses since the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50068)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications have been (a) accepted, and (b) rejected in each Welsh local authority for clubs since the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50069)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications were (a) accepted, and (b) rejected in each Welsh local authority for clubs between 1999 and the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50070)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications were (a) accepted, and (b) rejected in each Welsh local authority for public houses between 1999 and the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50071)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications were (a) accepted, and (b) rejected in each Welsh local authority for takeaways between 1999 and the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50072)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications were accepted, in each Welsh local authority for takeaways against police advice since the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50073)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications were accepted, in each Welsh local authority for public houses against police advice since the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50074)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): How many licence applications were accepted, in each local authority for clubs against police advice since the commencement of the Licensing Act? (WAQ50075)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): What percentage of licence applications were accepted, in each Welsh local authority for clubs against police advice since the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50076)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): What percentage of licence applications were accepted, in each Welsh local authority for public houses against police advice since the commencement of the Licensing Act? (WAQ50077)

Ann Jones (Vale of Clwyd): What percentage of license applications were accepted, in each Welsh local authority for takeaways against police advice since the commencement of the Licensing Act 2003? (WAQ50078)

The Minister for Social Justice and Public Service Delivery (Andrew Davies): The Licensing Act 2003 is not devolved to the Welsh Assembly Government and is a matter for the UK Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Department will be publishing statistics on licensing applications in due course but at present there are no figures available.