Answers issued to Members on 13 October 2008
[R] signifies that the Member has declared an interest.
[W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
Contents
Questions to the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing
Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government
Questions to the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing
Nick Ramsay (Monmouth): Will the Minister outline what assistance the Welsh Assembly Government provides individuals affected by flooding to help improve their flood defences? (WAQ52564)
The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing (Jane Davidson): Traditionally the Welsh Assembly Government funds relevant public bodies to build and maintain defence improvement works within their area. In Wales, the principal public bodies consist of the Environment Agency and local authorities.
The Assembly Government is currently piloting a grant scheme aimed at supporting appropriate flood protection measures to individual properties. The grant is not payable directly to homeowners but is made to local authorities under the provisions of Section 20 of the Land Drainage Act 1991, whereby property owners can request their local authority to undertake flood protection work on their behalf and at their expense. If a local authority agrees to undertake such work the local authority can apply to the Welsh Assembly Government for grant support. If the local authority is successful in securing a grant then the property owner would benefit from local protection works to their property and would contribute 15% of the cost of the works, with 85% coming from the Assembly Government.
To take advantage of this support the first step for a home owner would be to write to their local authority and request that the Council undertakes work on their behalf under the legislation. As you may appreciate, the system relies on operating authorities applying for grant aid to the Assembly Government. In turn, the operating authorities have to be satisfied that such works can be justified and are technically sound and sustainable before applying to the Assembly Government for support.
The Assembly Government is monitoring progress on a number of such applications and projects with the aim of determining the grant scheme’s long-term feasibility. Once this decision has been taken officials will be developing detailed guidance as to how this approach might be incorporated within the general funding arrangements.
Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs
Mick Bates (Montgomeryshire): How many Welsh farmers have a certificate of competence for transporting livestock, to comply with Council Regulation (EC) no. 1/2005 which came into force on January 2005? (WAQ52569)
The Minister for Rural Affairs (Elin Jones): In the region of ten thousand transporters in Wales have gained a certificate of competence to transport livestock over 65km as part of an economic activity, complying with the requirements of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005.
Mick Bates (Montgomeryshire): What financial support is available for farmers in Wales to take the test for transporting livestock, to comply with Council Regulation (EC) no. 1/2005 which came into force on January 2005? (WAQ52570)
Elin Jones: There is no financial support available to transporters wishing to gain a certificate of competence. During its introduction between March 2007 to April 2008 the Welsh Assembly Government provided up to 50 percent of the costs incurred by transporters seeking to gain a certificate of competence.
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government
Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): What is the cost to Welsh local authorities of implementing the Government Connect scheme, broken down per council? (WAQ52578)
Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): Will the Minister make a statement on implementation of the Government Connect scheme? (WAQ52579)
Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): What extra funding is being made from the Welsh Assembly Government and/or UK Government to help local authorities in Wales implement the Government Connect scheme? (WAQ52580)
The Minister for Social Justice and Local Government (Brian Gibbons): The Government Connect programme is made up of a number of discrete projects that, when completed, will provide a national ICT infrastructure that is designed to allow local authorities, UK Government Departments and their agencies at a national and local level, to communicate and share information with each other, electronically, in order to aid and encourage collaborative and cross agency working in a secure manner.
From a Welsh perspective, the lead HMG Department is the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), but the programme is also sponsored by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
Once implemented, the Government Connect Secure Extranet (GCSx) will provide secure connectivity to other national networks such as the Government Secure Intranet (GSi) the network the Welsh Assembly Government and HMG departments are connected to, the Police National Network, the Criminal Justice Network and the English National Health Network. This means that all Welsh local authorities will be able to use systems such as 'GC Mail’ which is transported by the GCSx network as a facility to send and receive emails, with attachments, at a higher level of security than is possible today to many public sector bodies. This means that it may no longer be necessary to send information of a personal or commercially sensitive nature through other less secure means, such as memory sticks, the post, etc.
The funding for this GCSx connectivity into Wales is provided by DWP and has not been exposed to the Welsh Assembly Government or local authorities.