§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the pilot schemes announced since 1 May 1997 by his Department that involve local authorities in a lead or partnership capacity; if he will list each of the local authorities involved in each case; and what revenue and capital funding each local authority will receive through the pilot in (i) 1997–98, (ii) 1998–99, (iii) 1999–2000 and (iv) 2000–01. [46053]
§ Mr. Win Griffiths[holding answer 15 June 1998]: The following are amongst the larger pilot schemes for which the Welsh Office is responsible.
Best Value
On 4 December 1997, I announced that 21 authorities, one police authority, and one combined authority had been chosen to test the best value framework in Wales in advance of the introduction of the Government's best value policy. No additional funding is being provided. These authorities were:
- Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council
- Bridgend County Borough Council
- Caerphilly County Borough Council
- City and County of Cardiff
- Carmarthenshire County Council
- Ceredigion County Council
- Conwy County Borough Council
- Denbighshire County Council
- Flintshire County Council
- Gwynedd Council
62W
Twins Triplets Quadruplets Quintuplets Sextuplets All maternities 1990 397 11 1 0 0 38,264 1991 416 6 0 1 0 37,824 1992 423 8 0 0 0 37,237 1993 399 8 1 0 0 36,375 1994 431 11 0 0 0 35,122 1995 417 14 1 0 0 34,204 1996 436 12 1 0 0 34,603 1997 484 14 3 0 0 34,159
- Isle of Anglesey County Council
- Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
- Monmouthshire County Council
- Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council
- Newport County Borough Council
- Pembrokeshire County Council
- Powys County Council
- City and County of Swansea
- Torfaen County Borough Council
- The Vale of Glamorgan Council
- Wrexham County Borough Council
- Mid and West Wales Fire Authority
- South Wales Police Authority
Social Exclusion
I announced on 1 May this year a Social Exclusion Programme for Wales which will feature up to 10 pilot projects consisting of small communities within different local authority areas. The participating authorities have not yet been chosen. £750,000 is available in 1998–99 for a mix of revenue and capital expenditure.
PFI Pathfinders
In June 1997, we announced support for 6 "pathfinder" PFI projects proposed by local authorities in Wales. The authorities were:
- Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council
- Ceredigion County Council
- Denbighshire County Council
- Newport County Borough Council
- Pembrokeshire County Council
- Wrexham County Borough Council
The project at Blaenau Gwent was subsequently withdrawn. Each authority has been offered assistance of up to £75,000 during 1997–98 and 1998–99 to help meet the costs of engaging professional advice to help bring these projects forward.