Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I regularly meet with the National Assembly First Minister and the Assembly Health and Social Services Minister to discuss the NHS in Wales.
Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are in regular contact with colleagues and with the First Minister and his Cabinet colleagues about issues affecting Wales. The Government's partnership approach to fighting crime is making a significant difference in communities across Wales. With funding running into millions of pounds, local crime and disorder reduction partnerships are...
Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are in regular contact with colleagues about issues affecting Wales, including the need for measures to combat domestic violence and to protect its victims. As part of our response, a new Ministerial Committee, Chaired by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Police, Courts and Drugs has been established to co-ordinate action across...
Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have regular discussions with the First Minister and his Cabinet colleagues about a range of issues including levels of crime, and measures aimed at combating it. The Government are committed to continuing to improve the reporting and detection of violent crime, and to tackling its underlying causes.
Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are in regular contact with colleagues about issues affecting Wales, including levels of crime, and measures aimed at combating it. The Government are committed to continuing to improve the reporting and detection of violent crime, and to tackling its underlying causes.
Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are in regular contact with colleagues and with the First Minister and his Cabinet colleagues about issues affecting Wales. The Government's partnership approach to fighting crime is making a significant difference in communities across Wales. With funding running into millions of pounds, local crime and disorder reduction partnerships are...
Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I regularly meet with the National Assembly First Minister and the Assembly Health and Social Services Minister to discuss the NHS in Wales. I am aware that the Department of Health and the devolved Administrations have published a suggested framework for a new consultant contract together with proposals for combining the existing distinction...
Don Touhig: I meet regularly with Cabinet colleagues and the First Minister of the National Assembly for Wales. The Government together with devolved Administrations are putting in place UK-wide arrangements for industry-led skills development, with new Sector Skills Councils supported by a Sector Skills Development Agency. I understand that the National Assembly for Wales will publish its Skills and...
Don Touhig: I have regular discussions on many aspects of coal health compensation with the Minister for Industry and Energy at the Department of Trade and Industry. To date, there have been almost 34,000 respiratory disease and 17,000 vibration white finger claims registered in Wales. Nearly 12,000 interim payments and 2,800 full and final payments worth £71.2 million have been made in relation to...
Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly meets with Cabinet colleagues including the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. I very much welcome the announcement made by my hon. Friend the Minister for Industry and Energy on 17 January to enhance pensions for those miners on low pensions. The Government have been concerned about these miners for some time. My hon. Friend also...
Don Touhig: I refer to my remarks on the previous clause, in which I stressed the importance of giving information so that parents can make proper choices about where their children are educated. The clause enables the National Assembly to make regulations that require any LEA in Wales to enter into a partnership agreement with the governing body of each school maintained by that authority, or each...
Don Touhig: I reassure the hon. Gentleman that the clause sets out only how LEAs and governing bodies carry out their functions. It does not alter their functions. It cannot change the law through the power, and so could not change any of their responsibilities in relation to staffing.
Don Touhig: May I also for the last time welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Pike? I am sure that when you and I attend the next works outing we will have many happy reminiscences of our time in Committee Room 10. This clause is intended to clarify the legal position of local education authorities in England and Wales that engage in the award or authentication of educational qualifications. It makes specific...
Don Touhig: I beg to move, That schedule 11 be transferred to end of line 5 on page 178. This minor change ensures that the order in which schedule 11 appears on the list of schedules to the Bill matches the order in which the relevant clauses give effect to them. Clause 189 gives effect to schedule 11. The change will have no legal or policy effect. Currently, schedule 11 appears before schedules 12 to...
Don Touhig: I can help the hon. Gentleman. The clause provides for local education authorities and governing bodies of LEA-maintained schools in Wales to publish material provided to them by the National Assembly, which is designed to help parents to gain a broader understanding of the performance of schools in their communities. The ''qualifying material'' referred to in the clause will include public...
Don Touhig: Yes. Question put and agreed to. Clause 190 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I regularly meet the First Minister to discuss matters relating to the NHS in Wales. While the policy on waiting lists in Welsh hospitals is a matter for my colleagues in the National Assembly, the Joint Ministerial Committee and regular informal contacts ensure that there are opportunities to share best practice between the operation of the...
Don Touhig: I can tell the hon. Gentleman that, as at 30 November, the number of people waiting for in-patient care in Wales has dropped. Indeed, the number waiting more than 18 months to be seen has fallen by over 4 per cent. What is important about reforming, changing and improving the health service in Wales is that the Labour party is committed to putting in the resources and the reform, but his...
Don Touhig: Yes. I endorse what my hon. Friend says and I can tell him and the House that my colleague in the Assembly, the Minister for Health and Social Services, has introduced a number of innovations to tackle the problems of waiting lists in Wales. Under her innovation and care programme, every trust now has an out-patient improvement manager and new booking systems are being developed using...
Don Touhig: I am aware that my Assembly colleague, the Minister for Health and Social Services, has announced today that NHS trusts and health authorities can start the new year on an even keel because she has written off the debt to which the hon. Gentleman refers. I endorse what she has done. It is important to ensure that the resources be provided for front-line care services. Currently, £3.5 billion...