Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for the rural economy in Wales.
Answered by Fay Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Wales Office)
I regularly have conversations with Ministerial colleagues on support for the rural economy in Wales. I am delighted the Chancellor announced £5m at Budget for an Agri-food launchpad in North and Mid Wales which will deliver jobs, growth, and boost productivity for our rural communities.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of scam telephone calls using number spoofing were reported in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold any data on the number of scam telephone calls using number spoofing.
Ofcom recently published their experiences of suspicious calls, texts and app messages survey, conducted on 31st January and 1st February 2024 (2,202 UK adult respondents). Mobile and landline users were asked if they had ever received a call that looked like it was from a genuine source but then became suspicious that it was not genuine. 35% reported having received a call on their landline and 50% reported having received a call on their mobile of this nature.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0025/281158/data-tables-2024.xlsx
NB: These figures cannot be combined as some users may have received both suspicious call on their mobile and landline and do not provide answers on the number of spoofing calls in the last five years.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the reliability of diagnostic testing of blood samples for vCJD.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Clinical diagnostic testing for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) is provided by the National Health Service, but there is currently no licensed blood screening test for vCJD, although there is ongoing research in this field. The National CJD Research and Surveillance Unit is involved in developing specialist investigations for vCJD, in collaboration with colleagues in Europe and internationally, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/surveillance/diagnosis-and-testing
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the responses to his Department's call for evidence on the fur trade.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A summary of replies received to the Call for Evidence on the Fur Market in Great Britain should be published in due course. At this stage we do not have a confirmed date for publication.