Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to make bilingual birth and death certificates available in Wales.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Bilingual birth and death certificates are already available where the event hasbeen registered bilingually in Wales.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what policies and protections are in place to enable prisoners to use the Welsh language at HMP Berwyn.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The new HMPPS Welsh Language Scheme (24-27), published this month, sets out how the English and Welsh languages will be treated equally when delivering services to the public. This includes upholding and reinforcing the rights of prisoners to use Welsh, for example, through recording of language preference on arrival, provision of relevant information in Welsh, and offering opportunities for prisoners to use Welsh socially.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the opportunities for the promotion of industrial hemp.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Growers are the best judge of what planting is suited to their land type and long-term agronomic strategy, but Defra recognises the valuable addition industrial hemp can be to some farms as a break crop.
Defra and the Home Office have listened carefully to experienced growers, and we believe that the changes to the Home Office hemp licensing system, currently in delivery, will be key to unlocking the crop’s huge potential. These reforms will enable an expansion of the growing area, better alignment of licences with the farming calendar and rotation planning, and an increase in the number of varieties growers can access.
Defra has also commissioned several studies looking at hemp cultivation, to better understand how the crop can contribute to achieving environmentally sustainable actions.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will meet representatives of Great Western Railway to discuss the use of half-length trains.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Ministers meet with train operators regularly to discuss a range of issues including operational performance. I expect to meet with Great Western Railway (GWR) and Network Rail again in the coming months to continue to hold them to account on progress towards sustained good performance.
Train lengths are regularly reviewed and adjustments are made where appropriate. GWR deploys its Intercity fleet of 5, 9 or 10 carriage trains to best meet demand.
Sometimes services are formed of fewer carriages than planned but this is only done as a last resort – this could be because of damage or vandalism, for example following an infrastructure problem, or because of an animal strike or fatality. Trains can also develop faults which means they cannot be used for passenger service until the problem is resolved.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to put revenue support mechanisms in place to support the development of advanced modular reactors.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is providing a pathway for privately-led advanced nuclear projects. Great British Energy - Nuclear has been tasked with assessing proposals within a new framework, to be published shortly, with the National Wealth Fund exploring potential investment opportunities and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero exploring revenue support for viable projects.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they have decided to dispose of 140 tonnes of civil plutonium stored at Sellafield instead of repurposing it for new energy generation.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer my noble Friend to the answer given by my noble Friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 8th May 2025 to Question HL6800.
The Government took the decision to immobilise the UK’s civil separated plutonium inventory based on strategic, economic, technical and safety and security considerations. Immobilisation will put the material into a form which both reduces the long-term safety and security burden during storage and ensures it is suitable for disposal in a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). Implementing a long-term solution for plutonium is essential to dealing with the UK’s nuclear legacy and leaving the environment safer for future generations. Furthermore, all current and planned UK reactors use uranium-based fuels.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to fund advanced nuclear technologies through the generic design assessment process.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The costs of nuclear regulatory services, like Generic Design Assessment, are charged to companies in regulation. The Government part-funded 3 companies to undertake GDA for their Small Modular Reactor designs through the Low-Cost Nuclear Challenge and Future Nuclear Enabling Fund grant schemes. These are Rolls-Royce SMR, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Holtec Britain Ltd.
Looking forward, the government is providing a pathway for privately-led advanced nuclear projects. Great British Energy - Nuclear has been tasked with assessing proposals within a new framework, to be published shortly, with the National Wealth Fund exploring potential investment opportunities and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero exploring revenue support for viable projects.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of international best practice cases for funding advanced modular reactor development.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government actively monitors advanced nuclear developments in other countries for international best practice that could support the government’s missions.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to work with the Welsh Government to redevelop and refurbish Cardiff Central Railway Station.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Officials from both governments continue to work collaboratively on the Cardiff Central station improvement project, alongside partners from Transport for Wales and Network Rail, and overseen by Wales Rail Board.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure long-term funding for programmes to support NHS staff with their (1) mental and (2) physical health.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is important that all National Health Service staff are able to work in a supportive and inclusive environment that prioritises their health and wellbeing.
Employers across the NHS have their own arrangements in place for supporting their staff, including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and health and wellbeing guardians, who scrutinise and co-ordinate local support.
At a national level, NHS England commissions the NHS Practitioner Health programme, which provides specialist support, and which is reviewing the wider provision of support for staff mental and physical health and wellbeing.
To support staff with their physical health, the Government and Nuffield Health announced, in March 2025, access for 4,000 NHS staff to Nuffield Health’s Joint Pain Programme, to support those staff who are either off work due to chronic joint pain or struggling with pain whilst at work.