HC Deb 07 December 1989 vol 163 cc359-60W
Mr. Roy Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what proposals he has to ensure that every school has at least one teacher trained in first aid to statutory level;

(2) what proposals he has to increase the number of teachers trained in first aid both to statutory level and to a lower level.

Mr. Wyn Roberts

Under common law, local authorities have a general responsibility to take reasonable care for the health and safety of pupils and students in their care. Their duties as an employer relating to first aid provision are defined in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and regulations made thereunder.

Notification of food poisoning1: for the first 11 four-week periods 1988 and 1989
Number of notifications Population Rates per 1,0002
County district 1988 1989 1988 1988 1989
*Alyn and Deeside 35 156 72.6 0.5 2.1
*Colwyn 69 102 54.8 1.3 1.9
*Delyn 74 264 65.1 1.1 4.1
*Glyndwr 51 72 41.5 1.2 1.7
*Rhuddlan 53 80 56.1 0.9 1.4
*Wrexham Maelor 119 179 117 1 1.5
Carmarthen 29 30 55.8 0.5 0.5
Ceredigion 63 64 67 0.9 1
Dinefwr 7 15 38.9 0.2 0.4
Llanelli 23 34 74.1 0.3 0.5
Preseli Pembrokeshire 114 71 70.7 1.6 1
South Pembrokeshire 28 25 41 9 0.7 0.6
Blaenau Gwent 7 3 77.3 0.1 0
Islwyn 65 34 66.4 1 0.5
Monmouth 13 20 81.3 0.2 0.2
Newport 77 45 128.1 0.6 0.4
Torfaen 4 7 92.4 0 0.1
Aberconwy 28 22 54.1 0.5 0.4
Arfon 13 10 55.2 0.2 0.2
Dwyfor 3 18 27 0.1 0.7
Meirionnydd 2 12 31.6 0.1 0.4
Ynys Mon (Isle of Anglesey) 34 37 71 0.5 0.5
Cynon Valley 15 19 64.3 0.2 0.3
Merthyr Tydfil 5 10 58.1 0.1 0.2
Ogwr 20 35 137.5 0.1 0.3
Rhondda 9 27 76.6 0.1 0.4
Rhymney Valley 36 69 104.5 0.3 0.7
Taff-Ely 8 10 94.9 0.1 0.1
Brecknock 18 36 41.1 0.4 0.9
Montgomeryshire 18 17 51.2 0.4 0.3
Radnorshire 7 0 22.6 0.3 0
Cardiff 289 450 283.9 1 1.6
Vale of Glamorgan 78 132 119.5 0.7 1.1
Port Talbot 35 41 49 0.7 0.8
Lliw Valley 37 70 61.8 0.6 1.1
Neath 61 71 65.2 0.9 1.1
Swansea 219 328 186.9 1.2 1.8
Source: OPCS weekly return (WR series). Figures are provisional.
1 Notifications formally made and cases ascertained by other means.
2 OPCS mid-year estimates of population for 1989 not yet available, rates for 1989 based on mid-1988 population estimates.

Note: Just over half (444) of the 853 notifications of food poisoning in the districts of Clwyd in the first 11 four-week periods of 1989 were recorded in the four-week period up to 18 August 1989. It was during this latter period that the major north Wales salmonella outbreak occurred.

Mr. Michael

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give the number of reported cases of food poisoning for each district in Wales for each month in the current year, with the comparable figures for 1988.

By means of the guidance note "Arrangements for First Aid Provision in Schools and Colleges" prepared by the Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office in consultation with interested bodies and issued, in September 1987, the Government encourage local education authorities to ensure that a proportion of the teaching staff of every school and college should have attended a course of training and have acquired a certificate in first aid, issued by an organisation approved by the Health and Safety Executive.