§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he proposes to permit a management buy-out of the Welsh development Agency's sub-regional west Wales organisation; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he has received proposals for management buy-outs from the board of the Welsh Development Agency; and if he will make a statement;
(3) if he will meet the chairman of the Welsh Development Agency and indicate to him that he should forbid senior managers of the agency from working on buy-out proposals; and if he will make a statement;
(4) if, when he next meets the board of the Welsh Development Agency, he will instruct the board to cease the consideration of buy-out plans by senior managers and to improve the board's capacity to attract inward investment and to build advance factories in Wales.
(5) what is his policy concerning management buy-outs and the Welsh Development Agency; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI have received no proposal for management buy-outs from the board of the Welsh Development Agency, though I encourage the agency to be alert to any prospect for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of its activities through greater private sector involvement in the full range of its activities.
§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will institute an investigation and publish a report into proposals by the Welsh Development Agency's west Wales regional director and the west Wales senior investment executive to buy out the west Wales region and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerNo. This is a matter for the Welsh Development Agency.
§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the number of employees and the value of, or the rent of the premises of the west Wales Welsh Development Agency.
17W
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThere are 17 full-time employees in the Welsh Development Agency's west Wales region. As at 31 March 1989 the value of premises administered by the region was £5.1 million.
§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if the Welsh Development Agency research, secretarial and technical facilities were used by the Welsh Development Agency employees to facilitate studies and proposals concerning management buy-out proposals; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerAs far as the Welsh Development Agency is aware, none of its research, secretarial or technical facilities was drawn on to formulate the proposals made for the west Wales region.
§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales when the senior management of the Welsh Development Agency's west Wales region first proposed to the Welsh Development Agency's chairman that there should be a management buy-out; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI understand from the WDA that this particular proposal was first mentioned within the agency in October 1988.
§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are(a) the current, (b) the 1987, and (c) the 1988 budgets of the west Wales Welsh Development Agency; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThese are matters for the agency, but it informs me that the expenditure budgets directly under the control of the west Wales regional office amounted to a total of £1.4 million in 1987–88 and £1.7 million in 1988–89. In the current year they will amount to £1.5 million. The figures are not, however, directly comparable due to a reorganisation of the agency's regions in July 1988. The figures also omit a number of items of major expenditure including new factory building which are controlled and accounted for by central departments of the agency.
§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) when he last met the west Wales Welsh Development Agency's senior investment director;
(2) when he last met the west Wales Welsh Development Agency regional director; and if he discussed management buy-outs.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI am not aware that I have met these officials of the Welsh Development Agency and have certainly not discussed management buy-outs with them.