Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has had recent discussions with the Trussell Trust on (a) the cost of living and (b) food poverty in (i) Newport West constituency and (ii) Wales.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
I have not had any recent discussions with the Trussell Trust on these topics. However, in my role as Secretary of State for Wales, I regularly meet with stakeholders to discuss a wide range of issues such as the cost of living.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Newport West. This includes Cost of Living payments for around 13,100 eligible households totalling up to £900 per household. Furthermore, around 240,000 payments have been delivered in Newport West through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
The UK Government recognises the challenges posed by cost of living pressures and consequently has provided unprecedented levels of support to families across the UK. Measures announced at the Autumn Statement mean the UK Government will spend £104 billion between 2022 and 2025 to help families with the cost of living, which is an average of £3,700 per UK household. Owing to the cut in National Insurance from January 2024, 1.2 million workers in Wales will benefit from an annual gain of £324 back.
Moreover, the National Living wage will increase by 9.8% to £11.44 per hour for workers over 21 and the National Minimum wage will increase by 14.8% to £8.60 per hour for people aged 18-20. This will benefit 140,000 people in Wales and is further evidence of the support the UK Government is providing to help people with the cost of living.
Although housing is a devolved matter, the UK Government is supporting low-income households by increasing the Local Housing Allowance (LHA). From April 2024, the UK Government will be investing £1.2 billion increasing LHA rates to cover the lower 30% of local rents. Around 1.6 million private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit will gain nearly £800 per year on average in additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25. In Wales, around 82,500 households are set to benefit from the boost.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on (a) the cost of living and (b) food poverty in (i) Newport West constituency and (ii) Wales.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
I have regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues and Welsh Government Ministers on a wide range of issues, including the cost of living.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Newport West. This includes Cost of Living payments for around 13,100 eligible households totalling up to £900 per household. Furthermore, around 240,000 payments have been delivered in Newport West through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
The UK Government recognises the challenges posed by cost of living pressures and consequently has provided unprecedented levels of support to families across the UK. Measures announced at the Autumn Statement mean the UK Government will spend £104 billion between 2022 and 2025 to help families with the cost of living, which is an average of £3,700 per UK household. Owing to the cut in National Insurance tax from January 2024, 1.2 million workers in Wales will benefit from an annual gain of £324.
Moreover, the National Living wage will increase by 9.8% to £11.44 per hour for workers over 21 and the National Minimum wage will increase by 14.8% to £8.60 per hour for people aged 18-20. This will benefit 140,000 people in Wales and is further evidence of the support the UK Government is providing to help people with the cost of living.
Although housing is a devolved matter, the UK Government is supporting low-income households, by increasing the Local Housing Allowance (LHA). From April 2024, the UK Government will be investing £1.2 billion increasing LHA rates to cover the lower 30% of local rents. Around 1.6 million private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit will gain nearly £800 per year on average in additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25. In Wales, around 82,500 households are set to benefit from the boost.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the cost of living in (a) Newport West constituency and (b) Wales.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
I have regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues and Welsh Government Ministers on a wide range of issues, including the cost of living.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Newport West. This includes Cost of Living payments for around 13,100 eligible households totalling up to £900 per household. Furthermore, around 240,000 payments have been delivered in Newport West through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
The UK Government recognises the challenges posed by cost of living pressures and consequently has provided unprecedented levels of support to families across the UK. Measures announced at the Autumn Statement mean the UK Government will spend £104 billion between 2022 and 2025 to help families with the cost of living, which is an average of £3,700 per UK household. Owing to the cut in National Insurance tax from January 2024, 1.2 million workers in Wales will benefit from an annual gain of £324.
Moreover, the National Living wage will increase by 9.8% to £11.44 per hour for workers over 21 and the National Minimum wage will increase by 14.8% to £8.60 per hour for people aged 18-20. This will benefit 140,000 people in Wales and is further evidence of the support the UK Government is providing to help people with the cost of living.
Although housing is a devolved matter, the UK Government is supporting low-income households, by increasing the Local Housing Allowance (LHA). From April 2024, the UK Government will be investing £1.2 billion increasing LHA rates to cover the lower 30% of local rents. Around 1.6 million private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit will gain nearly £800 per year on average in additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25. In Wales, around 82,500 households are set to benefit from the boost.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will publish the minutes of future meetings of the Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel’s decarbonisation Transition and will be supported by up to £100 million from UK Government and Tata Steel. I chair the Board, with the Minister for the Economy of Wales and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up acting as deputy chairs. The Board’s membership also consists of representatives from Neath Port Talbot Council, Tata Steel, the local Member of Parliament and Member of the Senedd. Trade Union representatives also attend as observers of the Board meetings.
In order to facilitate open dialogue on sensitive issues, the minutes of previous meetings have not been published but Joint Statements are published after each meeting which summarise the topics discussed and who was in attendance. This approach will be adopted for future meetings.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will publish the terms of reference of the Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel’s decarbonisation Transition and will be supported by up to £100 million from UK Government and Tata Steel. The terms of reference of the Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board have been published on the Neath Port Talbot Council website and are available here: Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board - Terms of reference – Neath Port Talbot Council (npt.gov.uk).
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will publish the minutes of the Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board meetings in (a) October and (b) November 2023.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel’s decarbonisation Transition and will be supported by up to £100 million from UK Government and Tata Steel. I chair the Board, with the Minister for the Economy of Wales and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up acting as deputy chairs. The Board’s membership also consists of representatives from Neath Port Talbot Council, Tata Steel, the local Member of Parliament and Member of the Senedd. Trade Union representatives also attend as observers of the Board meetings.
In order to facilitate open dialogue on sensitive issues, the minutes are not published but Joint Statements are published after each meeting which summarise the topics discussed and who was in attendance.
The first joint statement is available here: Statement on behalf of the Tata Steel/ Port Talbot Transition Board - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The second joint statement is available here: Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board Statement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether the Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board has met monthly.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Tata Steel and Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel’s decarbonisation Transition and will be supported by up to £100 million from UK Government and Tata Steel. From that funding, £80 million is provided by the UK Government and £20 million will be provided by Tata.
I chair the Board, and it had its inaugural meeting on 19 October 2023, and the Board reconvened for its second meeting on 30 November 2023. The third Board meeting will be held on 1 February 2024. The Board will continue to meet regularly, to help ensure that those who are affected are receiving the support that they need. Both of the sub-groups held their first official meetings the week commencing 22 January 2024.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the time taken to process claims to the Windrush Compensation Scheme from people in Wales.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
I have regular discussions with Home Office ministers on a range of issues and I recognise the contribution of the Windrush Generation to Wales. I was pleased to meet the Windrush Cymru Elders at the Mission Seafarers in Newport on 31 October 2023.
The Windrush Compensation Scheme is determined to ensure everyone who was affected receives every penny of the compensation to which they are entitled at the earliest point possible. The scheme is making significant progress towards achieving this aim. As of the end of November 2023, the scheme had paid over £75 million in compensation and over 78% of claims received had been given a final decision.
The time to allocate a claim for a substantive casework consideration has been reduced significantly, from 18 months to under 4 months. The 4 month period includes all essential eligibility checks, together with a Preliminary Assessment to make an initial payment of £10,000 wherever possible.
However, each person’s claim is deeply personal and deserves to be processed with the utmost care and sensitivity so that the maximum payment can be made to them.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many equalities impact assessments his Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (the Duty) all public authorities, including Government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. While ‘equality impact assessments’ may be produced, there is no legal requirement for duty assessments to be recorded in a specific format.
We do not centrally monitor assessments in this area but are confident that we are meeting the Duty in our decision-making processes.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with hospitality businesses in Wales on commercial energy costs.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
My officials and I regularly meet with businesses across Wales, including those in the hospitality sector, to discuss a variety of issues.
The Government provided an unprecedented package of support of £7.4 billion through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) which ended on 31 March 2023, shielding businesses and saving some around half of their wholesale energy cost.
The EBRS was replaced by the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS), which provides support to all eligible non-domestic energy users paying the highest energy prices starting from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. Since the scheme was introduced, wholesale energy prices have now fallen significantly, and inflation has fallen from its peak of 11.1% to 4%.
In addition, at Autumn Statement 2023, the government announced that it is freezing Climate Change Levy rates for 2025-26 to continue achieving CCL’s environmental objectives without increasing the impact to businesses’ energy bills.
The UK Government is providing further support to the hospitality sector by freezing alcohol duty until August 2024, and increasing the new Draught Relief duty from the initially proposed 5% to 9.2%. In addition, in England, we have extended the 75% relief on business rates available to hospitality, retail and leisure businesses. I am concerned about the impact of the cut to non-domestic rates relief for hospitality businesses proposed by the Welsh Government in their recent draft budget.