Submit Evidence (by 4 May 2026)

The rate of child poverty in Wales has changed very little over the past two decades, with around a third of Welsh children living in poverty during that time. Currently, 31% of children in Wales live in relative income poverty after housing costs. However, that figure also varies significantly depending on a family's circumstances, with larger families, lone parent families and families with at least one disabled adult or child experiencing higher rates of child poverty.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, with reference to paragraph 88 of the UK Government Resilience Action Plan, how many meetings Ministers in their Department have attended related to the Home Defence Programme.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

I have regular discussions with officials, external experts and ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including national security, defence and resilience.

The Home Defence Programme was established in August 2024 to build the UK’s resilience to any potential escalation to conflict. It is an evolving and enduring programme of work which provides defence, security and resilience planning, focused on aligning military and civil effort in the event of a period of crisis and international hostilities affecting the UK, informed by and reflecting the recommendations from government strategies, including the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

Officials from the Wales Office regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security, defence and resilience as well as the associated public communications required to deliver these lines of efforts. The conversation on National Defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The Ministry of Defence is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat.

As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing Government, the private sector and public to play their part in strengthening the UK’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether her Department was invited by the Office for National Statistics to provide input into its review of the ethnicity harmonised standard.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

A review of the harmonised standard for ethnicity data collection is underway by the Government Statistical Service Harmonisation team.

A public consultation between October 2025 and February 2026 sought views from a wide range of users, including Government Departments and public bodies, to understand user needs for ethnic group data. This was supplemented by a programme of engagement activity, including with representatives of all government departments represented in the Government Statistical Service.

The ONS have committed to providing an initial response to the public consultation in April, and a full report on the consultation in late summer 2026 will include more detailed information on the departments that responded to the consultation.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many staff within her Department are reliant on a visa for employment.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

No staff in my Department are reliant on a visa for employment.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what evidence her Department submitted to the Office for National Statistics' review of the ethnicity harmonised standard, including in relation to the recording of Sikhs and Jewish people as ethnic groups.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

A review of the harmonised standard for ethnicity data collection is underway by the Government Statistical Service Harmonisation team.

A public consultation between October 2025 and February 2026 sought views from a wide range of users, including Government Departments and public bodies, to understand user needs for ethnic group data. This was supplemented by a programme of engagement activity, including with representatives of all government departments represented in the Government Statistical Service.

The ONS have committed to providing an initial response to the public consultation in April, and a full report on the consultation in late summer 2026 will include more detailed information on the departments that responded to the consultation.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, with reference to paragraph 88 of the policy paper entitled UK Government Resilience Action Plan, published on 14 July 2025, how many meetings have been attended by civil servants within their Department in relation to the Home Defence Programme; which directorate in the Department owns the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme; and what the job title is of the civil servant leading and cohering the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

The Resilience Action Plan sets out the Government’s strategic approach to how we will strengthen our domestic resilience and invest to protect the nation. Wales Office officials regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security and defence.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many apprentices her Department recruited in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, (c) 2024 and (d) 2025.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

Apprenticeships are a valuable tool for improving skills, productivity, and social mobility, whilst also supporting the development of our workforce. My Department continues to offer apprenticeships whenever a suitable vacancy arises.

My Department recruited three apprentices in 2022, three in 2023, and none in 2024 or 2025.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with ministers in the Welsh Government concerning proposals to re-establish a Welsh Development Agency.

Answered by Lord Katz - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The re-establishment of a Welsh Development Agency is a matter which falls within the remit of the Welsh Government. The Wales Office is heavily engaged in supporting a coordinated approach toward investors between UK Government, Welsh Government, Corporate Joint Committees, and local authorities in Wales.

In 2024-2025, 65 new Foreign Direct Investment projects in Wales created 2,470 new jobs - an increase of 30% on the previous year in terms of new jobs created. Wales now lands nearly 5% of all inward investment projects in the UK, up from 3.4% in 2023/2024. The Wales Office recently launched a new programme of activity which will further improve coordination of how Wales is marketed to the world.

Economic Growth is the number one mission of this Government and our Industrial Strategy is delivering that for Wales – from Freeports and Investment Zones, to Artificial Intelligence (AI) Growth Zones and a Defence Growth Deal, we are creating the right conditions for business to grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across Wales.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much her Department has spent on special severance payments in each of the last three years.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

The total value of severance payments is set out in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts, which are available for the last three years.

Found: challenge with the level of capital funding under its Local Growth Fund allocation, and that the Wales Office

Found: Available from: Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics [Accessed on 13/11/2025

Found: Office of the Official Solicitor Office of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales Office

Found: Census 2021: Disability, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics 20% 5% 11% 14% 12% 13% 11%

Found: Available: Energy efficiency of housing in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics 11

Found: consensus on the content of, and approach to delivering, a curriculum. 18 Religion, England and Wales - Office

Found: 27 Average household income, UK - Office for National Statistics 28 Disability, England and Wales - Office

Found: Suicide in Prison Custody Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody in England and Wales - Office

Found: is provided in the Technical Report. 4 Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales - Office

Found: Regional Partnership Board 10 November 2025 Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Office

Found: of Ofcom’s evolving remit as the organisation takes on significant new responsibilities, the Wales office

Found: Wales ’ services sector As of 2024, the services sector accounted for 80.4% of employment in Wales (Office

Found: It is made up of representatives from the Children’s Commissioner for Wales office, Children in Wales

Found: government Minister of State for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism and representatives from the Wales Office

Found: usage in Wales (2022-23) 66 Future Trends Report Wales (2021) 67 Travel to work, England and Wales - Office

Found: Education, University College London Office for National Statistics (2022), ‘Census 2021 in Wales - Office

Found: Census 2021 (2023) Housing Variables, England and Wales. Office for National Statistics.

Found: Safeguarding Board Regional Safeguarding Boards Office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales Office

Found: Sue Denman Deputy Director Wales Office of Research and Development for Health and Social Care

Found: or-over-in-wales--- september-2025.pdf ix See: Unpaid care by age, sex and deprivation, England and Wales – Office