28/01/2008 - Answers issued to Members on 28 January 2008

Answers issued to Members on 28 January 2008

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

Contents

Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport

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 Rural Affairs

Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport

Kirsty Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire): What assessment has been made to the cost of the Welsh economy of mental ill-health (in terms of sickness absence, non-employment, state benefits etc)? (WAQ50881)

The Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport (Ieuan Wyn Jones): There has been no official assessment of the overall economic cost of mental ill-health in Wales. However, there is relevant information available. In 2006, under 25 per cent of working age people in Wales with a long-term health problem where the main problem was depression, bad nerves, or a mental illness were economically active, compared to 75 per cent of the working age population in general. In addition, nearly 40 per cent of Incapacity Benefit claimants in Wales have a mental or behavioural disorder. The overall number of Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disability Allowance claimants in Wales has fallen by over 20,000 or 10 per cent since the start of the decade, but the number with a mental or behavioural disorder has increased by 11,000.

Alun Cairns (South Wales West): Will the Minister make a statement on how many jobs have been created in the Welsh Economy in the last 8 years? (WAQ50921)

The Deputy First Minister: According to the most recent labour market statistics, there were 1,350,000 people in employment in Wales over the period September to November 2007. This represents an increase of 137,000 or 11 per cent since the start of the Assembly in 1999.

Alun Cairns (South Wales West): In the last 8 years, what proportion of the jobs created in the Welsh economy have been taken by immigrants? (WAQ50922)

The Deputy First Minister: According to the Labour Force Survey, 30 per cent of the net increase in employment in Wales between 1999 and the year to September 2007 was accounted for by people who were born outside the United Kingdom.

The 1999 baseline for this calculation is the average from the 4 seasonal quarters of the Labour Force Survey covering the period March 1999 to February 2000. The year to September 2007 represents the average from the 4 most recent calendar quarter Labour Force Survey datasets. Averages over 4 quarters have been used to cancel out any seasonal factors and to provide a more robust estimate.

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

Alun Cairns (South Wales West): How have economic inactivity rates varied in the last 8 years. (WAQ50924)

The Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (Jane Hutt): The information is given in the table. The working age economic inactivity rate in Wales for the year to November 2007 was 2.1 percentage points lower than the average for 1999.

Working Age Economic Inactivity Rates in Wales

(1) calendar year averages except latest.

Source: ONS Labour Market Statistics.

William Graham (South Wales East): Will the Minister outline how the announcement by the UK Government to install metal detectors in schools will impact upon schools in Wales? (WAQ50925)

Jane Hutt: Section 42 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 provides a new power for head teachers to search a pupil whom they reasonably suspect to be carrying a knife or other weapon on his or her person or in his or her belonging. Any school which suspects knife-carrying will be able to choose whether to conduct a search, or call the police to do so.

Section 42 is in force in England and I understand that some schools are choosing to exercise the power by installing metal detectors.

Section 42 is not yet in force in Wales. I intend to consult on the timing of the introduction of section 42 and on associated guidance, in the Summer Term 2008.

I wish to ensure that head teachers in Wales are able to foster an environment in which all members of the school community can thrive and feel respected, safe and secure; and have the legal powers to do that. Decisions on what is appropriate for an individual school will be a matter for the governing body and the head teacher.

Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services

Jenny Randerson (Cardiff Central): What is the operating budget for the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) broken down by Welsh Region? (WAQ50919)

The Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services (Gwenda Thomas): The Meat Hygiene Service does not set operating budgets by Welsh Region.

Jenny Randerson (Cardiff Central): What is the operating budget for the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) in Wales a) for this financial year b) for each of the last three years? (WAQ50920)

Gwenda Thomas: The MHS Wales Region includes Herefordshire and parts of Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Worcestershire and consequently the gross expenditure of the MHS is not budgeted by country. The gross expenditure of the MHS Wales Region (including Herefordshire and parts of Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Worcestershire) is:

Since 2006/07 analysis has been undertaken following the finalisation of the annual accounts to show gross expenditure by country. For Wales the 2006/07 gross expenditure was £12m, including corporate overheads.

Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs

Andrew R.T. Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister explain the delays with regard to Rural Payment Agency Wales verifying farm inspection data from cross compliance inspections in 2007, with particular reference to the agency’s ability to verify farm maps? (WAQ50898)

The Minister for Rural Affairs (Elin Jones): The development of new mapping systems in 2007 to better effect electronic administrative cross-checks required by new European regulations meant that Rural Payments Wales (RPW) were not able to verify inspection data as early as in previous years. RPW started verifying the data in 2007 and some farmers received their Single Payments in December. Priority is being given to completing the remaining cases and the results will be validated as part of the payments process as quickly as possible.

Andrew R.T. Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm that all verification processes used by Rural Payment Agency Wales are now working free from technical hitches? (WAQ50899)

Elin Jones: Rural Payments Wales use a number of processes, which are mostly computerised, to validate farmers’ payment claims. To benefit farmers through improved efficiency these processes are subject to ongoing review. Owing to the complexity of the systems used, and the possible need for changes to processes in the future in order to adapt to any new European regulations, I cannot give categoric assurances that there will not be occasions when technical failures may occur.

Mick Bates (Montgomeryshire): Will the Minister give an update on the Wood Energy Business Scheme? (WAQ50901)

Elin Jones: The Wood Energy Business Scheme (WEBS) is a £6.50 million capital grant scheme funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Assembly Government’s Pathways to Prosperity initiative. It was launched in March 2004 and will end on 31 March 2008.

Three types of project were eligible for grant support:

1. Wood fuel heating schemes;

2. Small scale electricity generation using wood (Combined Heat and Power—CHP); and

3. Wood fuel supply businesses.

The scheme has supported the installation of 23.30MW of heat and 1.35MW of electricity generation. 16MW of this was for large scale boilers in 'industrial type’ sites providing process heating for long hours and 7.30MW for smaller boilers providing space heat.

This equates to 17,000 tonnes of CO2 saved per year and over the projected life of the systems (20 years) will equate to 330,000 tonnes of CO2 saved.

About 60 full time and 16 part time jobs have been secured through WEBS funded projects and 29 wood chip heating schemes ranging in size from 30kW to 5MW have been supported on sites including hospitals, schools, offices, accommodation providers and visitor attractions.

In addition to this are 11 log boiler sites on farms and accommodation providers; 9 manual feed systems in sawmills, joineries and manufacturing companies; 10 wood chip processing projects involving local fuel suppliers; 1 brash baler for harvesting forestry residues and 4 wood pellet manufacturing projects ranging in scale from 1,000 to 30,000 tonnes per year.

Andrew R.T. Davies (South Wales Central): How has the verification process for Tir Gofal payments changed during the last 18 months to meet any alterations in European criteria? (WAQ50916)

Elin Jones: The main changes to Rural Payments Wales’ processes for verifying Tir Gofal payments to meet European requirements are:

(a) the introduction of new systems to carry out electronic cross-checks between all European scheme data to ensure that payments are made on the correct land area, that there is no double funding and that land use classifications are not contradictory; and

(b) as part of these new systems, the realignment of data to IACS (the Integrated Administration and Controls System), including a new map base, to help ensure compatibility of data between all European schemes, as required by European regulations.

Kirsty Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire): Will the Minister make a statement on how many commons have been affected by the new question on the 2007 single farm payment form, concerning declaring entitlements for ponies and horses? (WAQ50918)

Elin Jones: Introduction of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) in 2005 made it possible for farmers to declare commons grazing rights in respect of ponies and horses to support their SPS payment entitlements and they have been informed of this in the scheme literature for the last three years. The question was new on the 2006 Single Application Form (SAF). The latest 2007 SAF validated data shows that farmers have declared pony and horse grazing rights on 90 commons.