Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of offering secured e-mail as a communications option for his Department's customers upon request.
Answered by Paul Maynard
DWP utilises technology which allows encryption with most providers of personal email services, such as Gmail or Outlook, helping this stay secure. As such, email communication with customers is currently permitted in certain circumstances, for example, where the customer has a reasonable adjustment in place.
The Department is keen to utilise the benefits provided by email communication and is currently exploring the possibilities of expanding its use of email to communicate with customers.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of raising the earning threshold for family visas on people who intend to marry a foreign partner (a) before and (b) after Spring 2024 whose salary does not meet this threshold.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process, and an Impact Assessment will be developed in due course.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of raising the earnings threshold for family visas to on the human rights of (a) UK citizens and (b) foreign partners of UK citizens.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The family Immigration Rules contain a provision for exceptional circumstances, including a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, where there would be unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child, or another family member, if their application were to be refused.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of trends in the number of applications for spouse and family visas in the period before the implementation of the proposed higher earnings threshold.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process, and an Impact Assessment will be developed in due course.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Back to Work plan, published on 16 November 2023, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on whether measures to restrict the eligibility to free prescriptions of benefit claimants who are subject to sanctions will apply to claimants in Wales.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We are not restricting eligibility to free prescriptions of benefit claimants who are subject to sanctions. Claimants may still be entitled to access those passported benefits through other means.
At Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced that we will be closing claims for people who refuse to engage in employment support following a sanction decision and in receipt of a nil award for a period of 6 months or longer. As always, if entitlement to passported benefits is reliant solely on a Universal Credit claim to establish eligibility, that will cease if the claim is closed.
DWP has a well-established relationship with the Welsh Government, ensuring that we work together on devolved and reserved areas effectively. Universal Credit is reserved, and as such once the proposal is in legislation it will apply in England, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on (a) rolling out 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of two-year-olds from April 2024 and (b) extending 15 hours of free childcare to all children from the age of nine months from September 2024.
Answered by David Johnston
Since the Spring Budget 2023, the department has made good progress with preparations to roll out 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of two-year-olds from April 2024, and to extend the 15 hours of free childcare to all children from the age of nine months from September 2024. The department’s progress includes:
Further information on the rollout can be accessed at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/07/07/free-childcare-how-we-tackling-the-cost-of-childcare/.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding she has allocated to (a) rolling out 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of two-year-olds from April 2024 and (b) extending 15 hours of free childcare to all children from the age of nine months from September 2024; and how much the devolved nations will each receive in Barnett Formula consequential funding.
Answered by David Johnston
In the Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced a transformative set of childcare reforms aimed at increasing labour market participation. This included the largest ever investment in childcare, including expansions of early years entitlements and wraparound childcare.
The department expects to provide over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to fund the new entitlements (on top of increases also announced for the existing entitlements): £1.7 billion in 2024/25, £3.3 billion in 2025/26, £4.1 billion in 2026/27 and £4.1 billion in 2027/28. These figures are for England only.
At the Spring Budget, the government provided the devolved administrations with additional funding through the Barnett consequentials in the usual way. Details of the quantum of this funding are not held by the department.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Welsh language helpline for PAYE employer enquiries.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
To comply with the Welsh Language Act 1993, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) provides a number of Welsh language helplines The one for PAYE employer enquiries (Treth Incwm, Hunanasesiad a mwy), can be accessed Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5.00 pm on 0300 200 1900.
Details on how Welsh speakers can contact HMRC can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact
HMRC publishes its performance data monthly and quarterly:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the adherence to Welsh language legislation of public services in Wales for which the UK Government is responsible.
Answered by David T C Davies
The Welsh language is a devolved subject and the responsibility of Senedd Cymru / the Welsh Parliament and the Welsh Government. Most public bodies in Wales are subject to Welsh language standards, made under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, in delivering public services. The Welsh Language Commissioner is responsible for ensuring that bodies fulfil their obligations in relation to specified standards.
Ministers of the Crown are not subject to Welsh language standards. In practice, this means most UK Government departments operate Welsh language schemes under the Welsh Language Act 1993. Schemes set out, so far as practicable, how departments treat Welsh and English on the basis of equality in respect of services they provide for Wales. The Welsh Language Commissioner approves schemes before they are implemented and departments report regularly to the Commissioner on performance against their respective schemes.
As lead department in UK Government for the Welsh language, the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales works with other government departments to improve Welsh language provision, most notably through the official-level, cross-government Welsh Language Forum.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the provision through the medium of Welsh of public services in Wales for which the UK Government is responsible.
Answered by David T C Davies
The Welsh language is a devolved subject and the responsibility of Senedd Cymru / the Welsh Parliament and the Welsh Government. Most public bodies in Wales are subject to Welsh language standards, made under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, in delivering public services. The Welsh Language Commissioner is responsible for ensuring that bodies fulfil their obligations in relation to specified standards.
Ministers of the Crown are not subject to Welsh language standards. In practice, this means most UK Government departments operate Welsh language schemes under the Welsh Language Act 1993. Schemes set out, so far as practicable, how departments treat Welsh and English on the basis of equality in respect of services they provide for Wales. The Welsh Language Commissioner approves schemes before they are implemented and departments report regularly to the Commissioner on performance against their respective schemes.
As lead department in UK Government for the Welsh language, the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales works with other government departments to improve Welsh language provision, most notably through the official-level, cross-government Welsh Language Forum.