Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many young people between 16-24 in (a) Wales and (b) Caerfyrddin are not in education, employment or training; and what proportion of young people between 16-24 in (a) Wales and (b) Caerfyrddin are considered NEETs.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates of the numbers and proportions of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEETs) in Wales are published by the Welsh Government and available from Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) | GOV.WALES
No estimate is available of the numbers or proportion of 16-24 year olds who are NEETs in Caerfyrddin.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the taper rate for pensioners with incomes above the value of the pension tax allowance will be.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
For every £3 of income above the full level of the new State Pension, the value of the Pension Tax Allowance will reduce by £1.
Further information on the Pension Tax Allowance, including the taper rate for pensioners with incomes above the value of the full new State Pension, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-tax-allowance-explainer/pension-tax-allowance-explainer.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the population share is of pensioners in (a) Wales, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information on the age structure of the population is published by the Office for National Statistics. The latest population estimates are available in the ONS publication “Estimates of the population for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland”.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a right to paid leave for kinship carers.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Kinship carers play a vital role in caring for some of the most vulnerable children and young people. The Parental Leave and Pay Review is considering the needs of working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, including kinship carers. The Review draws from a range of evidence including engaging with a broad range of stakeholders, alongside evaluating other sources of evidence. The Review will conclude in early 2027.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of fully covering the cost of making disused coal tips safe in Wales.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government recognises the importance of ensuring coal tip safety across the country and just how much this issue resonates with local communities, particularly in the South Wales valleys.
The UK Government and Welsh Government have worked closely together to secure coal tip sites, with the support of the Mining Remediation Authority (MRA).
Local authorities remain the primary authority for coal recovery schemes from tips through the planning and enforcement system, including responsibility for securing appropriate funding.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Welsh Government will receive consequential funding as a result of the proposed national social care service in England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No decisions have been made on the funding of the National Care Service in England. Therefore, it is not possible to confirm the position on consequential funding.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Welsh Child Payment will be disregarded as income for benefit purposes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In September, Ministers from UK Government and Welsh Government discussed the Welsh Child Payment. Officials from UK Government are now working with the Welsh Government to further understand its proposal to pilot a Welsh Child Payment and the support required from UK Government to enable this.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of new dentists joining the General Dental Council register last year have trained overseas, and in what way she expects that proportion to change in the next decade.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold United Kingdom registration data for dentists. Available data is published by the General Dental Council (GDC) at the following link:
https://www.gdc-uk.org/about-us/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports
The Government is increasing domestic training places whilst also supporting the expansion of international registration exam capacity.
Dental school places in England are increasing by 50, supported with around £11 million per year once the expansion is fully implemented. The 50 additional places have been allocated to the University of Portsmouth and the University of East Anglia, helping train more dentists in areas without existing Government-funded dental training places. All National Health Service regions now have a dental school.
Expansion of the Overseas Registration Examination and Licence in Dental Surgery is expected to significantly increase the number of overseas-qualified dentists eligible to register with the GDC from around 338 a year under previous arrangements to around 2,400 a year by 2028/29.
The future proportion of new registrants who have trained overseas will depend on the total numbers joining through both UK and international routes.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of pensioners in Wales rely on State Pension as their sole source of income.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Around 1 million pensioner units across the UK have income from State Pension and state benefits only. Estimates are not available at geographical unit level.
Pensioners in Wales will see their State Pension income boosted via the Triple Lock which the government has committed to keep for the rest of this Parliament. This will see the new State Pension rise by over £2,000 over the course of the parliament and reach a forecasted record high relative to earnings.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Wales are impacted by the benefit cap; and how many of those households include children.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The department publishes monthly official statistics on the number of households in Great Britain receiving Housing Benefit (HB) or Universal Credit (UC) which are affected by the benefit cap. The statistics are currently available to May 2026 in the HB Point in Time Caseload and the UC Point in Time Caseload datasets on Stat-Xplore. These statistics can be broken down by country and Family Type.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract information.