HL Deb 13 December 1990 vol 524 cc611-24

5.29 p.m.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.

Before I start on the purpose of the Bill I cannot resist giving a little plug to a particularly fine exhibition of the development board's activities in the upper waiting hall in the Palace of Westminster. I hope that those who are interested in this Bill will visit that exhibition.

Baroness White

My Lords, some of us have already done so.

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, the purpose of the Bill, as affected by Clause 1, is to increase the statutory financial limit for the Development Board for Rural Wales from the present level of £100 million to £175 million. Present forecasts suggest that the present limit will be reached during the 1991–92 financial year. It is therefore necessary to raise the limit now so as not to inhibit the development board's contribution to the development of that region in Wales for which it is responsible. It is customary when setting financial limits to determine a figure sufficient to cover a period of about five years. Accordingly, the Bill proposes that the limit should be £175 million.

Your Lordships may find it helpful if I explain briefly the key objectives of the Development Board for Rural Wales. This can be succinctly said to be the expansion and diversification of the economy and the promotion of the social well-being of the people of mid-Wales. The development board's area covers the most rural parts of Wales. I am nervous about pronouncing the names but I shall try. They are: the districts of Ceredigion in Dyfed, Merionnydd in Gwynedd, and all three districts of Powys; Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Brecon. It is an area that covers some 40 per cent. of Wales but has only 8 per cent. of the total population of the Principality residing within its boundaries.

Operating since April 1977, the development board has played a major role in helping to increase the numbers of people living in mid-Wales. The board has used its resources efficiently. Its activities are focused on encouraging, stimulating and strengthening the private sector within its area. Indeed, its clearly articulated economic strategy is contingent on a thriving private sector, creating jobs, prosperity and confidence.

Your Lordships will be aware that one of the major economic challenges for rural areas is the exodus of population from rural to urban areas. This is particularly pronounced with the young people who are attracted by the perceived benefits of an urban lifestyle.

Reasonably good progress is being made to halt the outward flow. In 1971 on the night of the census there was a population of 185,000. The 1988 mid-year estimates, however, indicate that the population is now 213,500, an increase of 15.2 per cent. This increase coincides with the evolution of the development board's policies since its creation in 1977. However, we in government are aware that good as those figures are there are still difficulties with the continuing loss of young people and the continuing depopulation of the most remote rural areas and the particular challenge of a worsening age structure with high dependency ratios and a comparatively high population of people over retirement age. But I believe that our policies help to create an environment in which young people can find new jobs in manufacturing industry, in tourism and in service industries, providing a much greater diversity of employment opportunities.

It is obvious to all that the virtues of a rural lifestyle combined with a skilled, talented, and committed workforce, together with an area of outstanding environmental scenic beauty, are appealing to many in business. There can be no doubt that entrepreneurship has indeed been cultivated and is beginning to flourish in rural Wales; and the signs are that this will go from strength to strength in the 1990s.

The development board plays a most important social role for the life of the people in its region. The board, by virtue of Section 4(1)(d) of the Act, can offer grants to local authorities and other statutory under takers and help or assist such measures as the board considers will contribute to the social development of its territory. Since 1979 some £4.9 million of grant assistance has been provided towards more that 3,800 social development projects with a total project cost of £23 million. It is this social role which has enabled the development board to weave a tapestry which, combined with its economic activities, has encouraged young people to stay in the area.

The board's primary objective is the creation of a self-sustaining rural economy. I believe that this is being achieved in no uncertain measure by the provision of an ever-widening range of manufacturing industry which leads to the creation of high quality jobs. 1t is this diverse economy which can complement the quality of life in terms of the culture, language and environment of mid-Wales.

I commend the Bill to your Lordships so that the Development Board for Rural Wales can continue its good work and continue to build on its past successes. I beg to move.

Moved, That the Bill be now read a second time. —(Baroness Trumpington.)

5.35 p.m.

Lord Prys-Davies

My Lords, I am especially pleased to welcome the exhibition upstairs and to give our support to this small Bill. It is non-controversial and non-political and is very important for the people of mid-Wales. Perhaps I may make a modest claim. I was present at the discussions which took place at the Welsh Office between 1974 and 1976 and which culminated in the Development of Rural Wales Act 1976.

The idea that there should be a statutory rural development board for mid-Wales had its origins in the constituency Labour parties of Cardiganshire and Montgomeryshire, but it was the then Secretary of State for Wales, Mr. John Morris, who after much skirmishing took the significant step of setting up the statutory board.

I thank the noble Baroness for explaining the Bill, for summarising the key objectives of the 1976 Act, for describing the way in which the board has worked and for drawing our attention to its current commitments. I am sure that the Minister will join me in paying much deserved tribute to Mr. Glyn Davies, the chairman of the board, and to the line of distinguished chairmen of the board. All those interested in mid-Wales must feel grateful to the board, its chairman and officers for what has been achieved.

The noble Baroness made clear that the main objective in setting up the board was to combat rural depopulation in the erstwhile five counties of mid-Wales. The five counties, as the noble Lord, Lord Hooson, and my noble friend Lady White will know, had a long history of rural depopulation, but the five counties had worked together in partnership for at least 21 years in the mid-Wales Industrial Development Association to combat depopulation. It is that experience of working together for 21 years that explains why the boundaries of the statutory board are where they are.

Notwithstanding the considerable achievements of the board, there can be no doubt that outward migration, particularly of young people between the ages of 15 and 25, remains a very serious problem. The population expansion of 15 per cent. to which the Minister referred conceals the continued migration of young people from mid-Wales and conceals the unbalanced age structure. We fear that as agriculture sheds further labour over the coming years, depopulation will become worse. That is not meant to be a counsel of despair. Nevertheless, it illustrates the need for a realistically-based, long-term economic and social approach to the development of mid-Wales.

It would be helpful if the Minister when she replies to the debate could disclose the depopulation assumptions which are available. Could we perhaps have the Welsh Office assumptions for depopulation in mid-Wales between now and the end of the century, so that at least we know the scale of the problem?

Of course we are glad to learn from the chairman of the board, Mr. Glyn Davies, that as a result of the current factory construction programme about 1,000 additional jobs per annum will become available between now and the end of the century. However, we cannot make a reliable judgment about the adequacy of the programme unless we have a complete picture of the magnitude of the problem against which any judgment must be made. If there is a gap between the factory-building programme and the anticipated rate of depopulation, we must concentrate upon closing it. I hope, therefore, that the Minister will be able to tell the House something about the depopulation figures. I see that she wishes to intervene, and I am most happy for her to do so.

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, I must tell the noble Lord that I am terribly worried about him. I believe I am right in saying that he cannot speak twice in the same debate. Should he in fact be speaking at this point? I understood that he was to speak after the noble Baroness, Lady White, and the noble Lord, Lord Hooson. However, I do not want to stymie the noble Lord.

Lord Prys-Davies

My Lords, I understood that I was in order in speaking at this stage, but if I am mistaken I apologise.

Baroness White

My Lords, the noble Lord and myself have in fact now changed places.

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, I am most grateful.

Lord Prys-Davies

My Lords, I apologise for any inconvenience caused. As I was saying, I hope that those figures will become available.

The point is often made that there are other rural districts outside the remit of the Rural Development Board which have similar problems to those within its remit and they should therefore be brought within the board's territory. In passing, I must say that this allows us to conclude that there are people in many areas of Wales who believe that the board has much to offer them. Indeed, it is generally accepted that areas with similar problems in similar circumstances should be even-handedly treated. I would not like to distinguish between one area and another.

However, all that is not to say that areas outside the territorial remit of the DBRW in similar circumstances are not getting helpful, although not identical, treatment from the resources of the Welsh Development Agency. Indeed, during the course of the past few days I heard that the WDA has over the past two or three years embarked upon innovative, integrated schemes of development for some rural areas in the Llyn peninsula in Pentrefoelas.

When discussing the Bill in another place the Secretary of State indicated that the question of whether or not the territory of the DBRW would be extended will again be considered during the course of the coming year. I believe that that statement from the Secretary of State will be widely noticed by those in the local authority world and by others. Therefore, can the Minister tell the House on what grounds of principle the Secretary of State will decide whether or not to extend the territory of the DBRW? Many of us would be interested to learn the criteria.

The two bodies—namely, the Development Board for Rural Wales and the Welsh Development Agency —have had 13 to 14 years in which to settle down. I cannot help thinking that the record of the DBRW and that of the WDA in rural areas—I emphasise that I am confining the role of the WDA to the rural areas—should now be analysed to ascertain what lessons may be learnt. I believe that such an examination would have to take into account the number of jobs which have been created and the number which have been retained—that is, when it is clear that they had been retained as a result of support from the agencies —the duration of the jobs and the financial commitments involved. At the end of the day we are mindful that the WDA and the DBRW are competitors for the available resources. Therefore, we want to see the board and the WDA making the best possible use of them.

Side by side with the need for new jobs and the retention of family farms in mid-Wales, there is an acute shortage of low-cost housing to meet local demand. We hear a great deal about this, but in view of the contents of an open letter to the Secretary of State for Wales published last week in the Welsh-language press, I am not at all sure that the Welsh Office accepts that the housing position in rural Wales is unsatisfactory. I should like to draw the Minister's attention to that open letter and I hope that the Welsh Office will respond to it in due course.

At the time of the 1976 Act there were genuine worries about empowering a statutory board to provide housing to meet local demand because, theoretically, this would call into question the responsibilities of the district councils. However, during the past 11 years the position has changed. By now Tai Cymru is taking the lead in the provision of low-cost housing in many parts of rural Wales. That being the position, we suggest that the role of the DBRW in the provision of housing, which is an extremely limited one, should now be re-opened.

There are at least two other considerations which call for examination. I shall merely refer to them. The first is whether the DBRW should be given greater responsibility in ensuring the viability of the small family farm. Secondly, there is the question of whether it should be given more responsibility for promoting certain aspects of tourism. It seems to me that the Welsh Office Ministers appear to be content that the existing powers of their department of agriculture and those of the Welsh Tourist Board and of Tai Cymru should remain untouched, while possibly accepting that there is a need for greater co-ordination.

However, some of us are not clear where this co-ordination takes places and who will ensure that it does so. Perhaps the Minister can tell us whether the Secretary of State has regular and frequent joint meetings with the chairmen of the DBRW, the Welsh Tourist Board, Tai Cymru and with the head of the Agriculture Department, those being the separate bodies which currently operate in the area. I must leave those matters there. Nevertheless it seems to many of us that the functions and powers of the board need to be reviewed from time to time in the light of experience and changing conditions.

I believe that the Minister mentioned the fact that the DBRW was set up to promote the economic and social well-being of the people of mid-Wales. That twofold role is to be found firmly embedded in Section 1(1) of the Act. Therefore, unlike the Welsh Development Agency, there must be a social dimension to the policies and programmes of the DBRW.

We have taken note of the figures which the Minister gave when she dealt with the implementation of a social dimension of the board's policies. But some of us find it a little disturbing that the implementation of the social dimension appears to have been of less importance in recent years. No doubt—if I am correct in drawing that conclusion—the board was influenced by what it regarded as the dominant feelings and emphasis of the Government; but the need to promote social well-being is clearly stated in Section 1, and many of us hope that the board will now enhance the status of its social development department.

Had the Minister been present in your Lordships' House on 19th April last year when we discussed the problems of the Welsh-speaking rural communities, she would not be surprised that I want to raise the topic of the board's policy towards the Welsh language. Many of the communities of mid-Wales, which are now under grave economic and social stress, have made an outstanding contribution to the Welsh language. So the case for strengthening the economic basis of those communities is even stronger than the economic arguments would indicate. The crisis of those communities, and of the Welsh language, stands out clearly in the minds of our foremost writers and poets. I shall be interested to learn to what extent the board within its own administration, facilitates the use of the Welsh language; and to what extent in its activities throughout mid-Wales where it operates it assists the Welsh language. We should bear in mind the enormous influx of non-Welsh-speaking immigrants in the past 10 or 15 years. Can the DBRW give financial support to the strategy of the Welsh Joint Education Committee to teach the Welsh language to the immigrants settling down in the district within its boundaries? If it has the power to do so, will it do so?

Finally, it would be helpful if we could have particulars of the current expenditure by the Secretary of State under Section 26 of the 1976 Act on, first, the social developments of Wales, and, secondly, the Welsh language. It is not easy to do justice to this important Bill in the 16 minutes at one's disposal, but I have done my best to express gratitude to the board, its chairman and staff and to concentrate upon the major issues as I see them.

5.53 p.m.

Lord Hooson

My Lords, we on these Benches also welcome the Bill. The Development Board for Rural Wales has been a considerable success. The Bill is a small one which adds to its financial resources for the next five years. We should look at what the board has achieved. In the 1950s and early 1960s, depopulation was the greatest problem affecting mid-Wales. The area with which we are concerned is the one most dependent upon agriculture in the whole of the United Kingdom. At present, when the agricultural future of mid-Wales is unsure because of the uncertainties with regard to the protection provided by the common agricultural policy, there is again great anxiety in mid-Wales that we do not slide into another period of depre5sion.

The development board has been of the greatest assistance to mid-Wales since its inception, but it was not conceived in the way that the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies, outlined. I was a candidate in the 1962 by-election in Montgomeryshire. Before that, I advocated a rural board for mid-Wales. I wrote a booklet about it with Dr. Geraint Jenkins, the present curator of the folk museum at St. Fagans. Our proposal was to set up a development board to operate in a number of towns in mid-Wales along the lines of the Tennessee Valley Authority in the United States. That was countered by the considerable support there then was for a large new town in mid-Wales. It was what was called a linear town, and it was to be built from Newtown along the valley to Caersws and then to LLanidloes. It would have provided a town of considerable population based on the new town provisions passed by the Labour Government in the late 1940s.

One of those who espoused that idea with great enthusiasm was the late Jim Griffiths, who became the first Secretary of State for Wales. He was very enthusiastic about the plan. I was very much against it for reasons that must be obvious to the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies. It would have created enormous social and cultural problems. I know that the noble Baroness, Lady White, was of the same view, and she brought her influence to bear on the proposal. The noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn, deserves considerable praise for rejecting the plan for the huge new town and for adopting a much more modest plan of developing Newtown. The Newtown Development Corporation came into being. It was the genesis of the evolution that resulted in the setting up of the Development Board for Rural Wales. The Newtown Development Corporation was enlarged to form the Development Board for Rural Wales. It is wrong to suggest that it merely emerged in 1974, as the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies, said.

Lord Prys-Davies

My Lords, perhaps I may interrupt the noble Lord. He has throughout referred to a development board for rural Wales. He is a lawyer. One word is missing from his statement. He never referred to a statutory rural hoard. We are talking about a statutory rural board.

Lord Hooson

My Lords, that is a pedantic point, if I may say so. It is one lawyer talking to another. The interesting point about the Development Board for Rural Wales and its predecessors is that all parties accepted the principle behind it: that public money should be invested in mid-Wales to meet an economic, social and cultural problem. The board invests public money with the aim primarily of priming the pump economically to safeguard certain communities culturally and socially so that eventually the whole area will again blossom economically and will be able to sustain itself without the board's aid. It is a combination of public investment and private enterprise, the one encouraging the other.

The activities of the board and its predecessors have had a considerable effect on the economic, social and cultural sphere. I join the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies, in expressing the hope that the board will do more than it has done in the past to safeguard the Welsh culture, though it has not been inactive in that sphere. The present young, energetic and able chairman, Mr. Glyn Davies, has that matter close to his heart. There is a good deal to be done at present because we are in recession. Rural areas such as mid-Wales tend to be more affected by recession than areas closer to the main markets. There is much to be done economically and socially with regard to the considerable influx of newcomers into the area, to fit them in, make them feel part of the community and harmonise the sometimes clashing interests between one culture and another. Historically, Montgomeryshire and other counties of the border areas are extremely good at doing this, with one culture respecting the other.

It is an interesting reflection: I know of areas in Montgomeryshire which ceased to be Welsh-speaking decades ago. They still run eisteddfods and hold Welsh competitions at them, but the eisteddfods are conducted entirely in English. One culture merges with another. In my experience, there has also historically been considerable respect by one culture for another in my area.

If I were to ask myself what could best be done to assist the Development Board for Rural Wales to encourage the economy to flourish in the immediate future, it would be to make sure that the board is allowed to support industries ancillary to agriculture as well as agriculture itself. This is the key to the future. Obviously, agriculture will still be the economic backbone of the area. The marketing of agricultural products will be all important.

Wales, particularly mid-Wales, is an enormous sheep producer; there are probably more sheep per head of population than anywhere else in the UK. The sheep are of high quality and they have to be marketed, sold to the continent and elsewhere. There is the purchase of goods for use in agriculture, and the creation of other ancillary industries. The Development Board for Rural Wales knows full well from its own experience how the fact of building factories and bringing in industries from outside has often resulted in considerable spending power being added to rural homes—farmers' and farmworkers' homes. The wives, daughters and sons of those homes are employed in other industries but so help the home economy. I hope that at some stage in the near future there will be a general review of the work of the Development Board for Rural Wales. It has been lucky in its chairmen who have all been dedicated to the area. It has general support. There have been shortcomings at times, but they are far outweighed by the benefits it has brought to the area.

It would be helpful to examine the board's remit to see whether it can be brought up to date in the light of present economic, cultural and social conditions. In the meantime, I very much welcome the Bill and congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Trumpington; her pronunciation of Welsh names is improving.

6.2 p.m.

Baroness White

My Lords, the small number of Members of your Lordships' House who were also present on 15th November will remember that we debated the report on The Future of Rural Society of the committee on the European Communities under the noble Lord, Lord Middleton. I then touched upon the problems and opportunities of the Development Board for Rural Wales. I owe an apology to the Minister because I misread my notes and referred to designation 5(b) in the report of the European Community on funding for rural areas. I should have made a much more general reference to the ERDF funds which have been applicable for a number of years. The Minister kindly sent me a note following the debate and I apologise for causing her and her department a little extra work in correcting what I said on the designation.

I emphasise that I have a considerable interest in the well-being of mid-Wales. As a small child my first Welsh home was briefly at Llandinam; my first remembered holidays were spent at Sam and then Gregynog. I have close personal and family connections with Ceredigion and for the past 20 years I have been a ratepayer, and am now a poll tax payer, first in Montgomeryshire and now in Brecon. It is therefore understandable that I have a close interest in this subject.

I had that interest when many years ago I was Minister of State at the Welsh Office. The noble Lord, Lord Hooson, was quite correct in saying that the first or charter Secretary of State for Wales, the late Mr. Jim Griffiths, wanted a large new town in mid-Wales. However, his successor, the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn, thought—and I concurred, as does the noble Lord, Lord Hooson—that a more modest new town would be less of a social and cultural shock to the Welsh system of society. Hence, we have a new town in Telford on one side of the border and a more modest one in Newtown in Montgomeryshire.

Some extra money is to be made available under the Bill for the Development Board for Rural Wales, although no one has yet explained whether or not the provision will be adequate. This board came to life under the Labour Administration of the late 1970s. As my noble friend Lord Prys-Davies commented, it owed a good deal to the local authorities in the area which it now administers. They had decided that some co-operative and co-ordinated effort was desirable. They set up a fairly informal organisation of their own—the predecessor to the DBRW.

It is only right to mention that considerable credit was due to Mr. Peter Garbett Edwards of Llandinam, who did a great deal to support the earlier organisation. He later became a senior officer of the DBRW.

I do not wish to repeat what I said about mid-Wales on 15th November or to add to our collective reminiscences. I listened with close attention to the Minister's remarks and I emphasise that we on this side of the House strongly support the social as well as the entrepreneurial work of the DBRW. We wish the board, its chairman and the newly appointed chief executive all success and trust that they can rely on continuing government support at an adequate level. The word "adequate" is tricky because views differ as to what is and what is not adequate. It is clear that without considerable public assistance one will not obtain the advance in private enterprise that is one of the aims of the board.

The noble Lord, Lord Hooson, would perhaps not wish me to do more than refer briefly, as I must, to the difficulties that arose on the flagship of mid-Wales: the Laura Ashley company. He himself had a creditable relationship with it. Unfortunately, as we all know, the full expectations of continuing success for that company have not been fulfilled. We are thankful that a good deal has been rescued, but one cannot avoid recognising that it has been a severe shock to local and national susceptibilities that a company with such a reputation found itself in difficulties. We can only hope that under the present administration it will still be able, to fulfil a function in mid-Wales which, so far at any rate, no other enterprise has been in a position to emulate.

We hope very much that the efforts of the Development Board for Rural Wales, in conjunction with the other organisations of which the tourist board is one of the most important, will be sustained. I wish to support strongly the noble Lord, Lord Hooson, who also spoke on 15th November. He remarked that unless the agricultural problems are brought under adequate control, it will be very difficult especially in some of our upland areas, to maintain a population which can sustain a pattern of society that one would wish to see.

Our farming community is very uncertain about its fate over the next few years. I am all for diversification and for providing alternative forms of remunerative occupation, but there is still great uncertainty in the farming community. The noble Baroness who is to reply to the debate is closely concerned with the agricultural industry. It would be helpful if she could enlighten us with her thoughts on the relationship, with which a great deal of the work of the Development Board for Rural Wales must be connected. The noble Baroness may not be able to tell us what will happen in the GATT negotiations or about the 30 per cent. cut in subsidy, but I am sure she recognises that, however active the DBRW is and however enthusiastic we may be about it, if there is no solution to the agricultural problems which face a great part of rural Wales, it will be difficult to achieve the success that we would all wish to see in the near future

6.12 p.m.

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, I listened with great interest to the remarks of the noble Lords, Lord Prys-Davies and Lord Hooson, and the noble Baroness, Lady White, whose experience in these matters goes back far further than mine. I must apologise for interrupting the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies. However, no one informed this side of the House of an alteration in the order of speakers. Therefore, when I interrupted the noble Lord I hoped I was being helpful. It was done in the friendliest spirit. At the same time I wish to thank the noble Lord for his great courtesy in giving me an indication of the points he wished to raise. I congratulate all three speakers on their long association with the organisation we are discussing. I join in their congratulations to the chairman, the board and the staff who work for that excellent organisation.

I pass directly to answering the various points that have been made. I hope that they will be regarded as satisfactory. If not, the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies, will no doubt tell me. The mid-Wales population increase between 1987 and 1996 is expected to be 4.5 per cent. compared with an increase of 3 per cent. overall in Wales. In 1971 the population was 185,000; in 1988 it was 213,000. That is an increase of 15.2 per cent. By 1996 the figure is expected to rise to 219,000. That is as far as I can go at the moment. Extending the DBRW's territory—

Baroness White

My Lords, I entirely understand that the noble Baroness may not have the figures with which to answer my question now. However, without some age breakdown of the total number, it is difficult to judge what the real social effect of the small increase in total population will be. However, if it is shown that all the young people leave and all the retired people buy their cheaper houses on our side of the border, that reveals a very different pattern.

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, I shall see what we can do in the next few minutes. I shall continue to reply to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies, on extending the territory of the Development Board for Rural Wales. While the Secretary of State for Wales, by virtue of Section 1(2) of the Act, has powers to extend the board's boundaries, it has not hitherto been considered prudent to do so. In fact, the issue was addressed by the financial management review in 1986 which concluded that any extension to the board's territory would merely result in the dilution of its efficiency and resources.

In reply to the noble Lord's next question, I should say that the Welsh Office monitors on a continuous basis the work of the DBRW and the Welsh Development Agency to ensure that they are achieving their objectives in rural areas.

The housing situation is the responsibility of Tai Cymru. The Welsh Office has been aware for some time of the problems faced by people in rural Wales in securing affordable homes and a number of measures are being undertaken. Housing for Wales has directed around £25 million—no less than a quarter of its resources—to be spent by housing associations in rural areas this financial year. In recent years we have made available additional allocations/credit approvals totalling £2.8 million to those rural district councils with severe second home problems to enable them to purchase dwellings for rent or resale or to purchase land for housing development. To help mitigate the effects of immigration and second homes, public sector landlords in national parks and certain designated rural areas may impose conditions on the resale of dwellings sold under the right to buy.

Within the next few months we will be issuing planning advice on land for low cost housing in rural areas following consultation last year. Last year Housing for Wales launched a rural housing initiative to assist local people, especially young people, to find suitable homes which they can afford in their own communities. The initiative is being run on a pilot basis in 31 villages across rural Wales, the majority of homes being provided on shared ownership terms with a pre-emption right to return the home eventually to the relevant housing association. More significantly, earlier this month Housing for Wales published the results of two vital research projects on the nature and extent of the need for housing in rural Wales. One of the studies which assessed the demand for social housing in rural Wales is of a technical nature and will require careful study before we can say what decisions may need to be made about the direction of future resources. The second report on the importance of affordable housing for young people in determining their decision to remain in their home communities goes further than housing issues. Housing for Wales intends to call a working conference early in the new year to discuss the findings of both studies. It will draw on the expertise of those organisations with an interest in the quality of rural life.

Tourism is the responsibility of the Wales Tourist Board. Some 20 per cent. of the budget of the DBRW is tourism-related. Indeed there are frequent meetings to co-ordinate and collaborate tourism strategy with the Wales Tourist Board, the Mid-Wales Tourism Council and local authorities. A new tourism strategy has just been agreed by the development board and a key element is the continued promotion of country hotels in the board's area. The promotion of a very successful Welsh gold collection of attractive country house hotels will be extended to other countries, including the USA. Both the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies, and the noble Baroness, Lady White, mentioned the social side of the board's activities. The social dimension features in the board's policies and plans. It must be remembered that the DBRW has not only an economic but also a social remit.

The questions raised by the noble Baroness, Lady White, in connection with agriculture go rather wider than the Bill. However, as I said in reply to the debate on 15th November to which the noble Baroness referred, I am well aware of the uncertainty facing the agriculture industry. As she will imagine, I probably know more about that than I do about Wales.

The analysis of age structure for which the noble Baroness asked is not available. I shall write to her on the subject. The Secretary of State has regular meetings with the chairmen of all the non-departmental public bodies in Wales and is in daily contact with senior officers in his department.

With regard to the Welsh language, the DBRW has the necessary resources to conduct its business through the medium of the Welsh language where that is required. The development board has helped the development of the Welsh language and culture. We have supported a large number of Welsh language projects for learners including helping the Welsh Learners Council develop its community programme, S4C's acen project and the establishment of a Welsh language centre by Powys county council. Also, we have given substantial financial support to community, regional and national eisteddfods. By providing jobs and enhancing local facilities the development board aims to retain a greater number of Welsh youngsters in mid-Wales, thereby helping to ensure the continued viability of many Welsh-speaking communities.

Regarding the Secretary of State's expenditure under Section 26 of the Act I am afraid that the information is not readily available. I shall have to write to the noble Lord.

I should say a little more about agriculture, which plays an important role. While the remit of the board does not cover that activity, the board seeks to build other businesses to help ensure alternative employment for those who might previously have formed the agricultural workforce. I know that the board is intensifying and focusing its efforts to find ways of adding value to existing agricultural production and to funding alternative work. That is particularly important since one in four jobs on the western side of the board's area is agriculture related. There is an armoury of loan and grant schemes for private enterprise, varying from the mid-Wales development grant to the recently re-introduced development of rural initiative, venture and enterprise scheme as well as the rural building conversion grant schemes. All help to stimulate private sector involvement in job creation.

During 1989 and 1990 the board has been determined to acquire new land for the construction of factory and village workshops. In total some 30 acres have been acquired for individual development in the last financial year and £1.2 million has been set aside for the acquisition of more sites. There are many more activities in which the board is peripherally involved from an agricultural point of view, and the figure relating to rural activities is high.

The new financial limit which the Bill sets out will provide the Development Board for Rural Wales with the headroom it needs to pursue its tasks in the years ahead. I wish your Lordships nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda and express the hope that the House gives the Bill a Second Reading.

On Question, Bill read a second time, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.