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Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people were in part-time jobs in Wales at the latest available date. [12424]
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The labour force survey for summer 1995 estimated that 300,000 people in Wales aged 16 or over worked part-time in their main job.
Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many full-time members of staff are currently employed at each of the Welsh Office agricultural department divisional offices. [12309]
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The following full-time members of staff, excluding short-term casual staff, are currently employed at each of the agricultural divisional offices--as at 26 January:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Caernarfon | 141 |
| Carmarthen | 145 |
| Llandrindod Wells | 168 |
| Total | 454 |
Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what reductions he estimates will take place in current staffing levels within the agriculture group of the Welsh Office in 1996-97; and what assessment he has made of his Department's capacity to meet the standards set out in "Helping Farmers in Wales" following these reductions. [12307]
Mr. Jones:
Final decisions on the 1996-97 running cost budgets for individual groups have not yet been made.
2 Feb 1996 : Column: 977
Mr. Dafis:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many full-time members of staff are currently employed by the Welsh Office agricultural department in Cardiff; and at what grades. [12310]
Mr. Jones:
There are the following full-time staff in the agriculture department in Cardiff--as at 26 January 1996:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 1 |
| Grade 5 | 3 |
| Grade 7 | 5 |
| SEO | 4 |
| HEO | 13 |
| EO | 18 |
| AO | 9 |
| AA | 9 |
| PS | 4 |
Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the current ratio of Welsh Office agricultural department staff to the total number of farmers, partners and directors in Wales. [12308]
Mr. Jones: The ratio of current Welsh Office agricultural staff, excluding short-term casual staff, to the total number of farmers, partners and directors in Wales is 1:63 (rounded).
Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the number of people who are in temporary jobs because they are unable to find permanent work. [12423]
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The labour force survey for summer 1995 estimated that the number of employees in Wales aged 16 or over who were in a temporary job, and who gave the reason as being that they could not find a permanent one, was 48,000.
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent assessment he has made of the persistent environmental effects on Welsh farms of the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident in 1986; and if he will make an assessment on the effect on the Welsh economy of the radioactive pollution. [12685]
Mr. Gwilym Jones: In Wales radiocaesium contamination from the Chernobyl accident affects certain upland areas of sheep grazing, predominantly where there is a high peat content. While there is a general decline from year to year in the activity rate of radiocaesium, the actual rate of decline in these areas depends on the interaction of a number of factors such as soil type, vegetation, weather, drainage and sheep grazing preference. The variable interaction between these factors does not enable an accurate forecast to be made of the length of time sheep controls will be required.
Regular monitoring of radiocaesium levels in sheep, and other relevant information, enables suitable areas to be identified for a comprehensive survey and assessment to determine the prospects for removing controls. Following such work, my right hon. Friend was able to
2 Feb 1996 : Column: 978
life controls from more than 65 sq km in the Snowdon area on 17 January 1996. This reduced the area originally affected by sheep controls from more than 4,000 sq km to approximately 580 sq km.
It was recognised that the introduction of sheep controls would have some economic effect on part of the Welsh sheep industry. To mitigate this, the sheep compensation scheme was introduced in July 1986 to compensate farmers whose enterprises had been disrupted as a consequence of sheep controls. So far in Wales over £7,900,000 has been paid to farmers affected. This compensation has been paid primarily to recompense farmers for the inconvenience and disruption of sheep controls; payments for market losses as a result of the Chernobyl accident have been comparatively small.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what factors led to the decision to permit employees of the fire services to stand for election in local authority areas in their areas. [12561]
Mr. Hague:
Employees of combined fire authorities can become members of unitary authorities, but cannot be representatives of their councils on the fire authority of which their council is a constituent.
The Government consider that the responsibilities of combined fire authorities are such that membership of a constituent council would not present any conflict of interest for an employee of the combined fire authority provided that the employee is not a representative of the council on the combined fire authority.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what factors led to the decision not to permit employees of the national parks to stand for elections to local authorities in their areas. [12489]
Mr. Hague:
The planning and development control responsibilities of national parks require them to take decisions which directly affect the interests of individual residents and businesses in the parks. People in the parks should be confident that there is no possible conflict between an individual's interest as an employee of a national park authority and his position as a member of a local authority. The Environment Act 1995 preserves this position by providing that an employee of a national park authority is not only disqualified from being a member of that authority, but from being a member of any local authority represented on that national park authority.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much expenditure was incurred in the county of Gywnedd during the financial year 1994-95 under the Industry Acts; and how many new jobs have been facilitated by such expenditure. [12491]
Mr. Hague:
In 1994-95, companies in Gywnedd accepted assistance worth £4,438.025 under regional selective assistance, RSA; regional enterprise grants; SMART, small firms merit award for research technology,
2 Feb 1996 : Column: 979
and SPUR, support for projects under research, schemes. Of these, only RSA is job-related, and 600 jobs were forecast to be created and/or safeguarded.
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the grants paid by (a) the Welsh Office and (b) its NDPBs to supermarket chains in (i) 1992, (ii) 1993 and (iii) 1994. [12520]
Mr. Gwilym Jones:
The Welsh Office offered Tesco a grant of £2 million in 1989 to encourage it to relocate its administration centre to Cardiff. In 1992, an offer of £3.8 million was made to encourage it to locate a distribution centre at Magor. Details of individual payments within these offers are commercially confidential, but payments on both projects have been made during the period 1992 to 1994. No other supermarket chains have received Welsh Office grant assistance and no supermarket chain has received grant from Welsh Office public bodies.
Mr. Redmond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans his Department has to preserve the section of Offa's Dyke at Rhostyllen, near Wrexham, Clwyd, currently offered for sale; and if he will make a statement. [12872]
Mr. Gwilym Jones:
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments. I have asked its chief executive, Mr. T. J. Cassidy, to reply to the hon. Member.
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