Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether the Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of blast furnace closures on jobs in the supply chain.
Answered by David T C Davies
This Government is supporting Tata Steel with £500 million towards building an electric arc furnace, securing the future of steelmaking at Port Talbot. This will protect 5,000 steel jobs and thousands more in the supply chain. The Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel’s decarbonisation transition, backed by a £100 million fund. Of that funding, £80 million is provided by the UK Government and £20 million will be provided by Tata.
To address the potential impact on the supply chain, I have formed a dedicated Supply Chain Sub-Group within the structure of the Transition Board. This group consists of representatives from UK Government, Welsh Government, local government, and Tata Steel UK. This group is actively mapping affected supply chains and developing targeted interventions to specifically support impacted businesses.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, with reference to the Fifth Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board Statement, published on 25 April 2024, if he will publish the local economic action plan.
Answered by David T C Davies
The Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel’s decarbonisation transition, backed by a £100 million fund. Of that funding, £80 million is provided by the UK Government and £20 million will be provided by Tata.
The Transition Board commissioned the development of a Local Economic Action Plan to assess the economic impact in South Wales, as well as provide the Transition Board with advice on how to support and grow the local economy.
At the Fifth Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board meeting, the Board endorsed the Local Economic Action Plan and its use as a broad roadmap to help guide the Board when recommending how the £100 million fund should be used to support those affected. The Board agreed that a summary of the Local Economic Action Plan should be published in due course.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many employers in Wales her Department named as being non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in each year since 2019.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The government takes enforcement of the minimum wage seriously. We take robust action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. Publicly naming employers who do not comply with the rules is an important part of enforcement.
Table 1: Employers named as being non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in Wales, 2019/20 to 2023/24. No rounds of the Naming Scheme took place in 2019/20 and 2022/23.
Financial Year | Region | Employers named |
2019/20 | Wales | N/A |
2020/21 | Wales | 5 |
2021/22 | Wales | 14 |
2022/23 | Wales | N/A |
2023/24 | Wales | 25 |
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many times her Department has taken enforcement action against businesses for non-compliance with minimum wage legislation in each financial year since 2015.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
All businesses – irrespective of their size or business sector – are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. The government is clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it and takes robust enforcement action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. HMRC enforces minimum wage regulations on behalf of DBT.
Table 1: National Minimum Wage arrears, workers identified, and penalties issued from 2015/16 – 2021/22. Statistics for 2022/23 have not been published yet.
Financial year | Arrears | Number of workers | Penalties issued |
2015/16 | £10,281,396 | 58,080 | 815 |
2016/17 | £10,918,047 | 98,150 | 821 |
2017/18 | £15,615,609 | 201,785 | 810 |
2018/19 | £24,447,919 | 221,581 | 1,008 |
2019/20 | £20,836,609 | 263,350 | 992 |
2020/21 | £16,758,324 | 155,196 | 575 |
2021/22 | £16,316,841 | 120,295 | 696 |
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, in how many cases businesses in Wales were found to be non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in each year since 2019.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
All businesses – irrespective of their size or business sector – are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. The government is clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it and takes robust enforcement action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. HMRC enforces minimum wage regulations on behalf of DBT. Regional data for Wales has been provided in Table 1.
Table 1: National Minimum Wage arrears, workers identified, and penalties issued in Wales, 2019/20 to 2021/22.
Financial Year | Region | Arrears | Number of workers | Penalties issued |
2019/20 | Wales | £325,419 | 4,227 | 41 |
2020/21 | Wales | £262,408 | 3,895 | 14 |
2021/22 | Wales | £69,769 | 661 | 43 |
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many minimum wage investigations HMRC concluded in each financial year since 2019 in Wales.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it.
HMRC continues to crack down on employers who ignore the law, ensuring that workers receive the wages they are entitled to.
Data on the number of closed investigations in Wales is published routinely by financial years.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department undertook an impact assessment on separating International Drivers Permits from other DVLA delivered services.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency carried out an open competition for the contract to provide a counter service for International Driving Permits (IDPs), in line with the Public Contract Regulations 2015. PayPoint was awarded the contract.
The new contract provides the option for selected Paypoint outlets to issue IDPs. These selected PayPoint outlets provide the geographical coverage to ensure that at least 90% of the population are within ten miles of an IDP issuing outlet within the UK. The PayPoint service started on 1 April 2024.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to respond to the correspondence of 30 March 2024 from the hon. Member for Cardiff Central.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The correspondence from the hon. Member for Cardiff Central was responded to on 26th April 2024.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications for R&D tax credits were denied in each month in 2023.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
HMRC publish R&D statistics annually, the latest publication can be found on Gov.uk at Research and Development Tax Credits Statistics: September 2023.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications for R&D tax credits were approved in each month in 2023.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
HMRC publish R&D statistics annually, the latest publication can be found on Gov.uk at Research and Development Tax Credits Statistics: September 2023.