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WALES
Education Advisers
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many advisers are currently employed by each local education authority in Wales. [53196]
Mr. Hain: Information on the numbers of advisers currently employed by local education authorities in Wales is not held centrally.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the total cost for each local education authority of employing advisers in the last year for which figures are available. [53193]
Mr. Hain: The cost of employing advisers for each local education authority is not collected separately. The information collected from local education authorities on costs attributed to inspection and advice is given in the following table.
Source:
Local authority revenue outturn returns
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Departmental Research
Mr. Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the cost of all research undertaken by his Department since May 1997, excluding the cost of green papers and other public consultation documents drafted by his officials; and if he will list in each case the organisations which undertook that research. [52710]
Mr. Ron Davies [holding answer 29 July 1998]: The term research covers a wide range of activities from scientific and engineering research through to consultancies and public opinion surveys. The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Welsh Development Agency
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to make changes to the membership of the Welsh Development Agency prior to the establishment of the National Assembly. [53370]
Mr. Hain: Advertisements for the Board of the new Welsh Development Agency (WDA) have been placed and the process of selection is ongoing in line with the guidance from the Commissioner of Public Appointments. The appointments will take effect from the date of the merger of the WDA with the Development Board for Rural Wales (DBRW) and the Land Authority for Wales (LAW) this autumn.
Persistent Inquirers
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which of his Department's agencies have procedures to identify persistent inquirers for information. [53946]
Mr. Ron Davies: Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments is the only solely owned executive agency of the Welsh Office. It has no procedures to identify persistent inquiries for information.
Welsh Assembly
Mr. Ruane:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what arrangements he is making to appoint the Standing Orders Commission for the National Assembly; and if he will make a statement. [54930]
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Mr. Ron Davies:
The Commissioners will be appointed under the provisions of the Government of Wales Bill. I hope to be able to announce the names of the Commissioners shortly.
The Commissioners' role is to prepare the draft of the first standing orders of the Assembly, which will then be made, with or without modification, by the Secretary of State.
The recruitment of the Commissioners has been by open competition, in accordance with the current principles of public appointments. The Bill provides that there will be between 5 and 9 Commissioners. We expect that members will work 4 days a month and be paid £167.32 a day. The chairman will be paid £227.54 a day.
The Bill empowers the Secretary of State to issue guidance to the Commissioners on the content and form of the standing orders. The core of the guidance I intend to give will be based on the report of the National Assembly Advisory Group, which I expect to be published during August. The Advisory Group includes members nominated by all the main political parties, as well as members representative of a wide range of interests. It has already made considerable progress, through its discussions and public consultations, in building political consensus about the way the Assembly should operate--a task which the White Paper "A Voice for Wales" envisaged would fall to the Commissioners. This will enable the Commissioners to be rather more expert and technical than was originally envisaged. I shall want a balance of talents among the Commissioners, but it will not contain members nominated by the political parties.
There will be a continuing need to seek political consensus about issues other than the standing orders which will affect the way the Assembly will operate. These could include matters such as the opening ceremony and information support for Members. For this task I intend to establish an Assembly Preparations Group. This Group will include some members nominated by the political parties, as well as some former members of the National Assembly Advisory Group. I am consulting the leaders of the main political parties in Wales about the membership of this group, and about other matters relevant to the Assembly, in order to ensure that we continue to develop the arrangements for the Assembly in an inclusive spirit, seeking consensus where we can.
Mr. Ruane:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what advice he proposes to submit to Her Majesty in Council on the use to be made of the order-making power in clause 12(1)(b) of the Government of Wales Bill. [54931]
Mr. Ron Davies:
Clause 12(1)(b) enables Her Majesty in Council to designated public offices the holding of which would disqualify individuals from membership of the National Assembly for Wales. A draft of an Order in Council made under clause 12(1)(b) requires approval by each House of Parliament before it can be made. I shall shortly be publishing a consultation document inviting views about the advice I should submit to Her Majesty on the content of an Order in Council under clause 12; the paper will make detailed proposals about disqualification of members and staff of a range of executive non- departmental and health bodies, the holders of certain offices, and those who hold politically restricted posts in
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local government. I will place a copy of the consultation paper in the Library. Responses to the consultation paper will be requested by 2 October 1998.
Mr. Rhodri Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the appointments procedure for senior posts in the National Assembly; if he will list the membership of the appointing panels, indicating external assessors and grades of civil servants; and if he will make a statement. [53607]
Mr. Ron Davies:
The Government of Wales Bill provides that staff of the National Assembly for Wales will be members of the Home Civil Service. The appointments procedures for senior posts in the National Assembly will, therefore, generally mirror those for the rest of the unified Civil Service. The precise way in which they will apply is being considered.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the non-departmental public bodies in existence on 1 May 1997 that (a) have been disbanded, (b) will be disbanded in the next 12 months, (c) have had their functions transferred to (i) another non-departmental public body and (ii) a democratically elected body, (d) have been renamed but continue to perform a similar role and (e) have been unchanged; if he will indicate in (c) (ii) the relevant successor body; what new non-departmental public bodies have been established since 1 May 1997; and how many non-departmental public bodies his Department currently is responsible for. [53860]
Mr. Ron Davies:
The information requested is as follows:
(a) Agricultural Advisory Panel for Wales; Staff Commission for Wales; and the Welsh Council for Post Graduate Medical and Dental Education;
(b) The Residuary Body for Wales; Tai Cymru--whose functions will be transferred to the Welsh Office; the Land Authority for Wales and the Development Board for Rural Wales will be merged with the Welsh Development Agency;
(c) i. None; ii. None;
(d) The Welsh Optical Committee was renamed the Welsh Optometric Committee on 14 May 1997; the Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales was renamed the Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales on 1 October 1997; the Welsh Committee for Post Graduate Pharmaceutical Education was renamed the Welsh Committee for Professional Development of Pharmacy on 1 April 1998;
(e) A list of the remaining follows.
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