Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much of the £2.5 billion fund to develop the steel industry as set out under the UK Steel Strategy will be spent in Wales.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The steel strategy reaffirms the government’s intention to spend up to £2.5 billion on the steel sector. This is in addition to the £500 million for Port Talbot.
Building on the direct financial support the government has provided to the sector so far, the National Wealth Fund will be the UK government’s main mechanism for providing financing for investment in the steel sector. Investment decisions are made by the National Wealth Fund on a case-by-case basis and it supports promising projects across the United Kingdom
Specifically for Wales, the Secretary of State for Wales will convene the National Wealth Fund and the private sector in a new initiative to help attract investment to Welsh steel projects, to support communities across Wales that rely on the industry.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions his Department has had with the Competition and Markets Authority regarding opening a strategic market status investigation into Microsoft and its software licensing practices.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade engages regularly with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on competition issues. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on initiating strategic market status investigations (SMS) are a matter for the CMA Board. The CMA has announced that it will open a SMS investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem, expected to launch in May 2026.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Welsh Government's written statement entitled Agreement to consult on devolution of powers for a Vacant Land Tax in Wales, published on 11 February 2026, when the consultation on the devolution of powers for a Vacant Land Tax in Wales will be launched.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To avoid the pre-election period, the public consultation will be launched at an appropriate point after the formation of the next Welsh administration.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has considered the potential merits of extending the range of offences that can be considered under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme is an exceptional power. It includes all indictable-only offences (e.g. murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery) and certain triable-either way offences sentenced in the Crown Court (e.g. threats to kill, stalking, most child sex offences).
Parliament intended this to be an exceptional power, and any expansion of the scheme must be carefully considered. While we understand calls for expansion, it is important for both victims and offenders that there is finality in sentencing. The general rule is that a person should expect to serve the sentence a judge has imposed upon them.
The Law Commission is undertaking a review of criminal appeals and it held a public consultation inviting views on a range of reforms to the ULS scheme, including offences in scope. The consultation closed on 27 June 2025 and the Law Commission is expected to publish its report in 2026.
The Government will carefully and holistically consider the Law Commission review’s final recommendations on the wider reforms to the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme in due course.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of safeguards implemented by the telecoms sector to ensure that risks arising from the migration of the Public Switched Telephone Network to Voice over Internet Protocol are mitigated for people, including rural communities.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks from the industry-led migration of the copper based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for everyone across the UK, including rural communities. In 2024/25, there were over 2,600 major incidents on the PSTN, each affecting 500 or more customers.
In November 2024, the Government secured additional safeguards from the telecoms industry. These include the provision of free battery back-ups for vulnerable and landline dependent customers to ensure access to emergency services for at least one hour in a power outage. Many communication providers have gone further, providing battery back-ups of 4-7 hours.
In March 2026, the Government and industry agreed a new Fixed Telecoms Charter to extend these safeguards to all future fixed telecoms modernisation programmes.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the actions under the Agenda for Change uplift and a fairer deal for nurses statement for NHS England published on on 12 February 2026 will lead to additional funding for the Welsh Government through the Barnett Formula.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Department for Health and Social Care received funding to deliver the actions under the Agenda for Change uplift and a fairer deal for nurses statement at Spending Review 2025, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she intends to incorporate the Innate Health Assessment of dog breeds in future statutory licensing conditions for dog breeders.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Innate Health Assessment tool has been created by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare to tackle suffering caused by extreme physical body shapes in dogs. This voluntary tool can be used by breeders, dog owners or prospective dog owners to check any dog’s innate health characteristics and their suitability to breed and/or acquire, regardless of breed or type.
The Government published its Animal Welfare Strategy on 22 December 2025, outlining plans to take coordinated action to improve the welfare of pets. This includes the commitment to end the low welfare breeding of dogs and to launch a consultation on dog breeding reform.
Defra recognises the importance of genetic health in dogs and supports education of owners and breeders to promote responsible breeding.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment has been made of the role of the UK’s digital terrestrial television network in supporting national resilience and emergency communications.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government understands the importance of everyone being able to access information in times of national emergency. Both television and radio play a vital role in providing such access for a range of different emergency scenarios, including scenarios where other communications may be disrupted.
The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications in a range of scenarios.
The Government’s project looking into the future of TV distribution is considering a range of relevant factors, including the future resilience requirements for broadcast networks. It is important that audiences continue to receive consistent levels of service regardless of how they receive their television, and ensuring that this can happen will be a priority for the project.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, i) how much funding in total was granted to applicants to the HGV parking and driver welfare grant scheme ii) how much of this funding came directly from matched funding from the Department for Transport and iii) whether the department plans to re-open the scheme for further applications.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The total amount of government funding contractually committed to improvement projects for the HGV Parking Matched Funding Grant Scheme, as of 19 March 2026, is £13,599,303.45.
The scheme held three application windows. The table below sets out awards and spending to date per window as of 19 March 2026. Projects that were cancelled by operators after notification of an award are not included in these figures.
Application window opened | Total awarded | Total - spend to date |
Window 1 - Nov 2022 | £5,427,497.05 | £4,754,717.54 |
Window 2 - Sept 2023 | £4,778,778.09 | £4,335,848.03 |
Window 3 - May 2024 | £3,393,028.31 | £1,852,762.51 |
Overall MFGS | £13,599,303.45 | £10,943,328.08 |
There are no plans for further windows of the HGV Parking and Driver Welfare Matched Funding Scheme.
Funding for further lorry parking improvements is planned for the third road investment strategy (RIS3) as part of the Customer and Community Designated Funds, subject to confirmation of the National Highways RIS3 settlement.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans her department has to ensure that the road safety strategy includes provisions to support lorry driver welfare.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 7 January 2026 the Department for Transport published the Government’s new Road Safety Strategy, setting out our vision for a safer future on our roads for all. The Strategy sets an ambitious target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65% by 2035.
The Government expects the employers or engagers of anyone driving or riding for work to ensure that they are as safe as possible on the roads. Working with industry we will pilot a National Work-Related Road Safety Charter for businesses that require people to drive or ride for them, including considering the use of HGVs. The Charter will aim to help employers to reduce work-related road risk and improve safety for all road users by promoting good practice, and to improve compliance with current legislation and guidance.