Welsh Affairs: Report (Hansard, 27 May 1993)

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, the report is clearly the result of a great deal of hard work by a number of committed people within the institute. It deserves careful consideration.

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that positive reply which certainly recognises that this is an important and most interesting report. I have two questions for my noble friend. First, when considering the report will the Welsh Office pay particular attention to those recommendations for which it will have the prime responsibility if they are to be put into effect? The recommendations are listed at Appendix 5 of the report. Secondly, will the Secretary of State consider meeting with the authors of the report at some suitable date to discuss with them how best the various recommendations in the report can be carried forward?

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales has asked his department to consider the report's findings in detail. I am pleased to say that arrangements are already in hand for such a meeting to take place.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, will the department be prepared to consider consulting the many important local authorities in both South and North Wales on this matter?

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, I am quite sure that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales takes all such opinions into consideration when making his plans.

§ Lord Harmar-Nicholls
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the reply he gave to my noble friend did not seem to indicate positively that the Government have read the report? Have they read it?

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, I can assure my noble friend that the Government have read the report.

§ Baroness White
My Lords, does the noble Viscount agree that the brave new world envisaged in this interesting and exciting report, of which I too have a copy, is unlikely to be reached by the year 2010 unless certain districts in Wales can retain for some time longer the assisted area status that they currently enjoy?

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness that the report is optimistic in what it seeks to achieve. However, the Government's response to the report will be subject to financial constraints.

§ Lord Hooson
My Lords, does not the noble Viscount appreciate that the very preparation of the report implies a concern about the next century in Wales and that steps must be taken in time to ensure the prosperity of Wales in the next century? What are the Government doing about that?

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, as I have said, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales is meeting with the institute' and these matters will be considered.

§ Lord Prys-Davies
My Lords, I invite the noble Viscount to be a little more specific. This document contains about 82 initiatives set out in Appendix 5. The report assigns the 82 tasks to 17 organisations, or categories of organisation. If the Welsh Office is to give careful consideration to this document, will it initiate a round of consultations with all the organisations which are named in Appendix 5? Unless the department is clear about that and unless it is prepared to undertake such an exercise, how can it form an objective view of the merits of these recommendations?

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies, must be aware that several of the most successful initiatives of the Welsh Office have been born from ideas that originated within the Institute of Welsh Affairs. I refer to two of those initiatives; namely, the A.55 and the valleys initiative. I am sure that these initiatives would not have been embarked on if there had not been consultations held at a meaningful level between the Welsh Office and the Institute of Welsh Affairs.

§ Lord Prys-Davies
My Lords, we are the first to acknowledge the contribution of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. However, I specifically drew attention to the 17 organisations, and the department should be consulting with them.

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, I am quite sure that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales is well aware of the points raised by the noble Lord. I am sure that he will take them into consideration when he takes these matters further.

§ Lord Richard
My Lords, is the Minister aware that if, as the Government claim, there has been some 389 economic success in Wales in recent years, that is due to a combination of proper planning authorities; proper co-operation with local authorities; an interventionist policy directly pursued, and announced as such by the Welsh Office; and a sympathetic attitude by the Government towards public expenditure in Wales? If that can work in Wales, why on earth cannot it work elsewhere?

Viscount St. Davids
My Lords, I am glad that the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition recognises the work that has been done in Wales by the Welsh Office and by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State.