Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 5:09 pm on 28 February 1991.
I am delighted that once again this year we have an opportunity to debate on the Floor of the House the state of affairs in Wales. There is a great deal that is extremely positive and encouraging going on in the Principality, and I shall want to draw the House's attention not only to our achievements so far, but to our plans for the future.
First, however, I am sure all parts of the House would want to join me in remembering our brave troops in the Gulf and in particular those from Wales in the regiments, ships and the Air Force serving with allied forces. All our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families. They have fought courageously to make the world a safer place. We all recognise our enormous debt to them, both individually and collectively.
I should also like to say what a big difference it will make to our proceedings that Donald Coleman is no longer sitting in his seat. On both sides of the House, I know that we miss him very much, as I am sure do his constituents in Neath—whom he served so faithfully and effectively for so many years.
The office of Secretary of State for Wales encompasses an enormous range of functions. Indeed, it sometimes comes as a surprise to the people of Wales that there is any aspect of their daily lives for which the Secretary of State does not have governmental responsibility. The House can rest assured that I do not intend to take them on a grand tour, but there have been a number of developments in certain areas in the past year or so to which I should like to draw attention, before turning to what I believe should be the main subject of our debate—the economy in Wales.
First, as regards local government finance, I was very pleased with the professional approach which local authorities in Wales adopted in implementing the community charge system last year. However, as my predecessor my right hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr. Walker) pointed out, budgets for the forthcoming year were set too high by some councils, with the result that the average charge in Wales was higher than necessary. However, at £232 per charge payer, it is more than £100 lower than the average in England. The local authority settlement for 1991–92, which I negotiated this year, provided sufficient resources, giving nearly £200 million extra or 11·2 per cent. in external finance, to enable authorities to spend in line with my plans and to produce an average community charge of £228.
However, it has been suggested in the press—although I treat the reports with the caution that they deserve—that authorities generally have failed to achieve that figure. I am sure that the House will agree that that is disappointing and that the electorate will recognise immediately that the fault lies with those councils which have set excessive charges. I remind the House that I have been given the powers to charge-cap and I shall not hesitate to use them when I have full details of the spending and charging decisions taken.
Last month, I was able to announce a new community charge reduction scheme which, at £62 million, will treble the amount of money going to twice as many people who face the steepest increases in their bills after the transition from rates, and will mean that two thirds of the communities in Wales will benefit from reductions. At the same time, I am, of course, proceeding with a fundamental review of the finance, functions and structure of local government. During the past week I have had interesting and constructive discussions with the Welsh members of the Liberal Democrat Party, and with Plaid Cymru. I welcome the constructive spirit in which the hon. Members concerned have entered into those discussions. It is a pity that the official Opposition still feel unable to meet me without setting unreasonable and unacceptable preconditions. I appeal to them to rethink their position.
In the past year there have been a number of developments in education, most notably the decision that Welsh should be included as a foundation subject in the national curriculum. I am strongly and firmly committed to policies which secure and strengthen the position of the Welsh language. I have before me the proposals of the Welsh Language Board; I am carefully considering them and shall respond to the board. However, I am sure that our decision——