Oral Answers to Questions

David Chadwick Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Louise Haigh]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on campaigning on this important area and highlighting some of our most vulnerable constituents. I absolutely agree that victims and survivors of domestic abuse deserve proper and timely legal support. In recognition that individuals might not be able to access certain assets or funds, we have already updated legislation to improve the availability of legal aid for survivors of domestic abuse, which includes ensuring that £100,000 of the value of a home will not be considered in the legal aid means test. However, we will always work to ensure that victims and survivors have the support they need, and Ministers will be happy to hear any further proposals.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

Q7.   Last Friday, I met a group of farmers from my constituency who told me about their experiences at the hands of a company called Green GEN Cymru, which has been sending its workers on to their farms at 4 am, wearing dirty wellies and showing no regard for biosecurity. Several Members of this House have raised concerns about Green GEN Cymru. Will the Government urgently look at revoking its Ofgem licence?

[Louise Haigh]

I am happy to take that case away and raise it with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Chadwick Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

I welcome the new Secretary of State to his place. Many of my constituents are reliant on cross-border healthcare, particularly in Hereford hospital. Indeed, many of them will end up stuck in Hereford hospital because we do not have enough community hospital beds in Powys. Powys teaching health board acknowledges that it needs 400 beds, but we only have 148, and it is considering cutting that number further. Can he please outline what are his priorities for fixing cross-border healthcare issues?

[Stephen Kinnock]

Cross-border healthcare is a really important issue. We need to find a better way of working together in partnership with the Welsh Government. It is about drilling down into specific cases where people have not been given the treatment that they should get at the speed at which they should get it. It is also about clearing some of the red tape and bureaucracy that exists between the two Governments and doing the hard yards of Government working with the Welsh Health Ministers and ourselves to get this issue resolved.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Chadwick Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Please can we speed up questions? There are some people who I really want to get in and that will help everyone.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

Q3. Two weeks ago, the news leaked that Powys teaching health board is considering taking the beds out of all but two community hospitals in Powys. Some 2,500 people have already signed my petition against those cuts. Does the Prime Minister agree that taking beds out of community hospitals is not a solution for the crisis in social care? Why did he not prioritise fixing social care when he had the opportunity?

[The Prime Minister]

I remind the hon. Gentleman that when his party was in the coalition Government, they did not do anything about social care—they simply cut all our public services and we had to pick up the results of that. I do not know the details of the particular case he refers to, but I will ensure he gets a better answer than that in writing.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Chadwick Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

Since coming to power, time and again this Government have failed to stand up for Welsh interests. Nowhere has that been more obvious than in mid-Wales, where Oliver Millican and his company Bute Energy would like to build a series of energy parks that encircle our military training bases, impede our farmers’ access to their land and do great damage to our local tourist industry. Will the Secretary of State take the opportunity to tell Oliver and Bute Energy that they are not welcome in Wales, because we are fed up of being exploited?

[Jo Stevens]

The simple fact is that those who oppose the building of renewable energy infrastructure risk blocking investment and job creation, while at the same time making their constituents’ bills more expensive. Upgrading and expanding the electricity network is not optional; is a national imperative and we cannot afford to delay—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman asked me a question, so he might want to listen to the answer.

Middle East

David Chadwick Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have set out the principles on which I will act. I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Any action will have to have a lawful basis, and a viable case for it.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

As long as the Iranian regime exists, it will continue to pose a direct threat to our security, and to stability across the region, yet Cabinet Office figures show that non-official development assistance integrated security fund spending for the middle east is set to fall by a third in the coming years. Will the Prime Minister explain why funding to counter Iranian threats is being reduced, when those threats remain so acute?

[The Prime Minister]

We are taking a number of measures to deal with Iranian threats, as the hon. Gentleman would expect.

Civil Service Pension Scheme: Administration

David Chadwick Excerpts

Wednesday 4th February 2026 Westminster Hall

[Lorraine Beavers]

I agree.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech, and we are all grateful for the opportunity to raise these cases. I have been contacted by a constituent who left the civil service in 1992 and, more than 30 years later, has still not received the pension that she is owed, despite providing proof of service from HMRC and making repeated transfer requests. Despite the fact that the civil service later located her superannuation file, the scheme continued to insist that no record existed. Does the hon. Lady agree that such cases show that the failure is not just delay but deep-rooted maladministration within our state, and that the Government must commit to ensuring people are paid the pensions that they are legally entitled to?

[Lorraine Beavers]

I agree.

To deal with hardship, the Cabinet Office has announced interest-free loans of up to £10,000. That may help in the short term, but it is wrong that pensioners are being asked to borrow money that already belongs to them. That should never have been needed. What is more, those affected have been left in limbo and have no information about the operation of these loans. Given the mismanagement of the scheme, how can members have any confidence that Capita will know who is facing hardship and is therefore eligible for a loan?

PCS has made it clear that many of these cases should have been completed before the hand-over, but were not. The Cabinet Office has accepted that more retirements late last year, and more this year, have made the backlog worse. Without a clear and well-resourced recovery plan, normal service could take many months to return. That is why Capita must urgently prioritise the cases of retirees, as over the coming months many could remain without any income whatever. It must increase staffing capacity and, ultimately, devote every resource to clearing the backlog.

It is welcome that the Cabinet Office has now brought in about 150 civil servants, mainly from HMRC, to help fix the problem, but it raises a simple question: if so many civil servants are needed, why is the work not being done inside the civil service? Are the Government billing Capita for the work that those civil servants are having to do?

Oral Answers to Questions

David Chadwick Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

The Secretary of State has been highly critical of the legitimate concerns that my constituents have raised about the numerous wind farm proposals across mid-Wales. Now the Ministry of Defence has raised its concerns that at least one of the proposed wind farms has the potential to form a physical obstruction to air traffic movements and military activities at the Sennybridge training area. If the Labour Government will not listen to the concerns raised by my residents, will they at least listen to their own military?

[Jo Stevens]

I thank the hon. Member for his question, but can I suggest that he raises that with Defence Ministers? If he would like to contact me afterwards, I am happy to raise that with the Secretary of State for Defence.

Digital ID

David Chadwick Excerpts

Monday 8th December 2025 Westminster Hall

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss. It was Harry Willcock, a Liberal party activist, who started the successful campaign to get rid of physical ID cards. After being stopped and asked for his cards by the police, he threw his papers on the floor and said, “I am a Liberal and I am against this sort of thing.” That is because as Liberals we believe that the state exists to empower its citizens rather than endlessly monitor them. What we have before us today is yet another example of this Labour Government announcing a grand, attention-grabbing idea without really having a plan for how to do it.

The proposal for a mandatory digital ID system is set to drain at least £1.9 billion from the public purse—and if history tells us anything about major Government projects, it is that that figure is likely to rise substantially. At a time when every pound counts, it is astonishing that Ministers believe that this is the right priority. The reality is that this digital ID proposal risks becoming an enormously expensive distraction, absorbing money, time and political energy that should instead be directed towards the things that people actually rely on: police on our streets, timely NHS care, functioning local services and funding border security.

[Mr Adnan Hussain (Blackburn) (Ind)]

In respect of the figures, the last time this was tried it was said that it would cost the Government £5.4 billion. Then, when independent organisations came to look at the actual figures, some said that it would cost up to £19 billion. Does the hon. Member agree that inflation goes up, not down?

[David Chadwick]

The hon. Gentleman is quite right to question whether or not this is a good use of Government time and money. The 4,500 constituents of mine who have signed this petition would much rather the Government spent their time and money on trying to fix other data governance issues. For example, one big data governance issue in Wales is that, when patients go over the border to Hereford, they often cannot retrieve their health data. It would be much better if the Government prioritised spending money on that.

Some 75 years on from Harry Willcock saying that he was a Liberal and against this sort of thing, I reiterate the same principle. I am a Liberal, and we remain against this sort of thing.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Chadwick Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

I start by raising a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Secretary of State said that the Liberal Democrats were responsible for imposing the two-child benefit cap. That is simply not true. It was imposed by the Conservatives, and we have campaigned tirelessly against it ever since. Will she correct the record?

[Mr Speaker]

Just ask your question.

[David Chadwick]

This Government keep claiming that offshore wind will bring down bills for people in Wales and drive economic growth, but research from Greenpeace shows that the opposite is happening. The Crown Estate is pushing up bills by running uncapped auctions that force energy companies to pay huge fees just to use the seabed. Those extra costs are added straight on to the energy bills of families and businesses across Wales, meaning that Welsh households pay more. The profits are taken out of Wales, while the Crown Estate’s chief executive officer pockets £1.9 million a year. Why are the Government allowing the Crown Estate to drive up energy bills, and why will not they force the Crown Estate to manage Welsh natural resources in the public interest, rather than its own?

[Jo Stevens]

At every session of Wales questions, the hon. Gentleman talks about how he does not want infrastructure to be built in Wales. His party was one of the architects of austerity and the crushing poverty faced by so many people across the United Kingdom. This Labour Government have turned the page on that austerity legacy, bringing down energy bills, increasing the minimum and living wages for about 160,000 Welsh workers, and scrapping the two-child cap.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Chadwick Excerpts

Wednesday 12th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I commend my hon. Friend who has been a long-standing campaigner on this important issue. The public are right to be furious about how the last Government allowed sewage to pour into our lakes, rivers and seas. Alongside tough new powers to combat pollution, this ban will put an end to plastic wet wipes that litter our beaches, clog up our sewers and harm wildlife.

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

Lloyds bank has more than 31,000 customers in my constituency, yet many of them, particularly the elderly and the vulnerable, are struggling to get out their own cash. That is because Lloyds has closed its branches in Brecon, Presteigne, Ystradgynlais, and before the end of this month in Pontardawe, despite making billions in profits and paying its CEO £5 million. Will the Prime Minister write to Lloyds bank and ask it to keep that last branch in Pontardawe open?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising that, and I will look at the particular example he has raised. As he will know, we are rolling out hubs. Some of those are already in place and there are more to come, and I will happily update him on where they are likely to be.