Heads of the Valleys (Hansard, 8 February 1988)

§ 3. Mr. Rowlands
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what action he proposes to take in the light of his recent visits to and tours of the Heads of the Valleys communities.

§ 21. Mr. Ron Davies
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what action he proposes to take following his recent visit to the Valleys area of South Wales.

§ Mr. Peter Walker
My recent visits to the Valleys communities have helped to clarify the shape of the major programme that I am devising.

§ Mr. Rowlands
Will the Secretary of State's new Valleys initiative include additional resources for the Health Service in our communities? In particular, will it include sufficient resources to reopen the high-dependence units in St. Tudful's hospital? That hospital was opened only six months ago by the Queen Mother and was shut at the new year as a result of lack of resources. It has resulted in £120,000 worth of extremely good equipment lying idle.

§ Mr. Walker
I am having consultations on the initiative with Valley health authorities, and I am looking at the manner in which the particular medical and health problems of the Valleys should be considered in such a programme.

§ Mr. Ron Davies
Opposition Members regard the Secretary of State's answer with some scepticism. There are many promises, but not much is delivered. During his visit to the Valleys, did he understand the anger and bitterness at the continued underfunding of the National Health Service? Is he aware that, this week, nursing and ancillary staff at Caerphilly miners' hospital will work for 200 hours on a voluntary unpaid basis to make up one day's shortfall between what the hospital needs and what it gets? In the circumstances, as his Government have been so quick to criticise nurses who withdraw their labour, will he offer his support to the staff at Caerphilly miners' hospital?

§ Mr. Walker
The hon. Gentleman must feel pretty ashamed at asking such a question, when he considers the level of nurses' pay when we came to office and how, during the period of the Labour Government, it went down in real terms. Under our Government it has substantially increased. On the general matter of promises, most of the people whom I met on my visit were delighted at the Valleys factory building programme that was announced during the past week.

§ Mr. Rogers
Does the Secretary of State accept that the proposed colliery closures will be a tremendous blow to Valley communities of south Wales? Rather than scoring 6 political points, will he address the queston that was asked by my right hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Foot) about what proposals he had to provide work for those who will be put out of work?

§ Mr. Walker
The hon. Gentleman will know that British Coal has categorically stated that there will not be a single compulsory redundancy.

Mr. Alan Williams
The Secretary of State said that, as a result of his recent tour, we got the commitment to the Valleys initiative. We welcome that. Will he confirm also that table 2.2 of the public expenditure White Paper clearly shows that the total spend in Wales will fall by £6 million next year and £54 million over the next three years? They are the Government's figures in their own White Paper. As he has told us that his Valleys initiative is included in the diminished figures, will he confirm also that, therefore, instead of extra money being available for it, the initiative is to be wholly funded by cuts in other Welsh programmes? As he does not like my statistics, although they have stood up to close examination somewhat better than his own have, will he publish in Hansard a list of the cuts that will fund his initiative?

§ Mr. Walker
I repeat that the right hon. Gentleman should decide to find a new research assistant who will not cause him such political embarrassement. I am delighted to say that once again his figures are incorrect. I have already announced a most enormous increase in regional aid for Wales, which will benefit the Valleys.