Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what meetings (a) he and (b) his predecessor had with ministers of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (i) wholly and (ii) primarily about Tata Steel's intentions for the Welsh steel industry.
Answered by Alun Cairns
My predecessor, the Rt hon Stephen Crabb MP, and I have, and continue to conduct regular meetings to discuss Tata Steel, and the Welsh Steel Industry with Cabinet colleagues, UK Government Ministers and Welsh Government Ministers.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what meetings (a) he and (b) his predecessor had with ministers in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (i) wholly and (ii) primarily about Tata Steel's intentions for the Welsh steel industry.
Answered by Alun Cairns
My predecessor, the Rt hon Stephen Crabb MP, and I have, and continue to conduct regular meetings to discuss Tata Steel, and the Welsh Steel Industry with Cabinet colleagues, UK Government Ministers and Welsh Government Ministers.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what meetings (a) he and (b) his predecessor had with Ministers of the Welsh Government (i) wholly and (ii) primarily about Tata Steel's intentions for the Welsh steel industry.
Answered by Alun Cairns
My predecessor, the Rt hon Stephen Crabb MP, and I have, and continue to conduct regular meetings to discuss Tata Steel, and the Welsh Steel Industry with Cabinet colleagues, UK Government Ministers and Welsh Government Ministers.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what meetings (a) he and (b) his predecessor had with cabinet colleagues (i) wholly and (ii) primarily about Tata Steel's intentions for the Welsh steel industry.
Answered by Alun Cairns
My predecessor, the Rt hon Stephen Crabb MP, and I have, and continue to conduct regular meetings to discuss Tata Steel, and the Welsh Steel Industry with Cabinet colleagues, UK Government Ministers and Welsh Government Ministers.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the retention of Welsh as a requirement for applicants to senior managerial public roles in areas where Welsh is the main language.
Answered by Alun Cairns
I have regular discussions with Welsh Government ministers on a range of issues, including the Welsh language.
The Welsh language is a devolved subject and the adoption and successful implementation of Welsh language schemes is a matter for individual public bodies in Wales.
The UK Government is fully committed to the Welsh language and to providing Government services in the Welsh language. The Wales Office supports other Departments in delivering their Welsh language services, and proactively seeks opportunities to raise the profile of the Welsh language across Government.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with (a) cabinet colleagues and (b) the Welsh Government on making St David's Day a bank holiday in Wales.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
None. The Government has no plans to change the arrangements for bank holidays in England and Wales.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions his Department has had with the Welsh Government on who has responsibility for asbestos policy in Welsh schools.
Answered by Alun Cairns
In May 2014, the Welsh Government published guidance on asbestos management in schools to ensure that head teachers, school governors and other members of the school management team are aware of requirements in respect of asbestos management procedures and legislation.
The Department for Education is undertaking a review of asbestos policy for schools in England and has committed to sharing the outcomes from this work with the Welsh Government.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he had with the Secretary of State for Transport prior to the decision to display the Union flag on driving licences in Wales, Scotland and England.
Answered by Alun Cairns
Prior to the decision to display the Union flag on driving licences, I had been in contact with the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport about the case for including an optional Welsh flag on driving licences.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will take steps to ensure that the Welsh flag can be displayed on driving licences in Wales.
Answered by Alun Cairns
Displaying the Union flag on driving licences strengthens the UK’s sense of national identity, and Wales continues to be an important and integral part of this Union. As part of the decision making process, the Wales Office ensured that the Department for Transport gave due consideration to whether people should be allowed to choose which UK national flag to have on their licence. This work showed that the cost of offering a choice of national flags was excessive. We were keen to ensure that costs were kept to a minimum.
The inclusion of the Union flag has no effect on the availability of bilingual driving licenses.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with his (a) ministerial colleagues and (b) his counterpart in the Welsh Government in London on the economic effect of using pylons for electricity transmission and their potential economic effect on (i) taxation and (ii) property values.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
Wales Office Ministers meet regularly with ministerial colleagues from the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Welsh Government to discuss a range of issues. In addition, I have previously met with National Grid and been updated on their plans for Wales.