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Written Question
S4C: Finance
Thursday 1st July 2021

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on ensuring an adequate level of funding for Welsh language free-to-air television channel S4C.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

I have regular discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about a wide range of issues including broadcasting matters and the funding settlement for S4C. Furthermore, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and I have had a number of constructive discussions about the licence fee settlement for S4C with the Minister of State for Media and Data.

S4C is the only Welsh language TV channel in the world and the UK Government understands this incredibly distinctive position.

DCMS has received S4C’s submission of need and negotiations are ongoing.


Written Question
Trade Agreements: Wales
Monday 7th June 2021

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has had discussions with the Welsh Trade and Investment Hub on producing economic impact assessments of trade deals proposed by the UK Government.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

I work closely with my colleagues in the Department for International Trade to ensure that businesses and consumers across Wales feel the benefits of our world-class Free Trade Agreements and take advantage of new opportunities as we unlock access to new markets. The Government carried out preliminary scoping assessments for each FTA negotiation with a full impact assessment published prior to implementation.

The Trade and Investment Hubs are central to promoting British exports from all parts of the UK, to help level up the country and build back better. The hub in Cardiff will be home to export and investment specialists who will provide businesses with expert support and advice to maximise export potential, boost trade in new markets overseas, and help businesses feed directly into the free trade agreements programme.


Written Question
Regional Planning and Development: Wales
Monday 7th June 2021

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what metrics the Government plans to use to measure success on the commitment to levelling up in the recently published Plan for Wales.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

Levelling up is at the heart of the Government’s agenda and the commitments in the Plan for Wales to build back better and drive jobs, growth and prosperity. This includes making £27 billion available through the Levelling Up Fund, UK Community Renewal Fund and UK infrastructure Bank as well as investment in critical broadband, mobile and transport connectivity.

At Spending Review 2020, all Departments agreed provisional priority outcomes across all of the UK, along with metrics for measuring progress against these outcomes. The full list can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2020-documents.

The Government will be looking at additional mechanisms for measuring progress on its levelling up ambitions as part of the forthcoming Levelling Up White Paper.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles: Wales
Monday 22nd February 2021

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he is having with the Secretary of State for Transport on providing additional charging facilities for electric vehicles in Wales.

Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales

The 10-Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution published in November last year confirmed, among other things, a funding package for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Though this policy area is generally devolved to the Welsh Government, a number of schemes such as the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme, Electric Vehicle Home Charging Scheme and Workplace Charging Scheme apply to Wales. A total of £275m was committed for these schemes.

Investing in electric vehicle charging infrastructure is an important part of the UK Government’s plan to accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles.

The UK Government has committed to investing £582m in Plug-in Vehicle Grants to incentivise take-up of zero or ultra-low emission vehicles, and nearly £500m to be spent in the next four years on the development and mass-scale production of electric vehicle batteries and other strategic technologies as part of its commitment to a £1 billion Automotive Transformation Fund.

The UK Government intends to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 and for all cars and vans to be 100% zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035.

The Welsh Government is currently consulting on an electric vehicle charging infrastructure strategy.

I have regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport about a wide range of matters, including the decarbonisation of transport.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles: Wales
Monday 22nd February 2021

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what plans his Office has to assist the Welsh Government with the rollout of electric vehicle infrastructure in Wales.

Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales

The 10-Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution published in November last year confirmed, among other things, a funding package for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Though this policy area is generally devolved to the Welsh Government, a number of schemes such as the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme, Electric Vehicle Home Charging Scheme and Workplace Charging Scheme apply to Wales.

A total of £275m was committed for these schemes, which will supplement and support the Welsh Government’s efforts in this area. The Welsh Government is currently consulting on a strategy for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Officials from the Wales Office and Office for Low Emission Vehicles have had a number of discussions with the Welsh Government about electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Wales.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Wales
Monday 4th May 2020

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps he is taking to ensure that people in Wales who received a hard copy of the letter from the Prime Minister on steps the government is taking to combat coronavirus that was missing a paragraph that appears in the online version are aware of the all advice on social distancing.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

One paragraph from the Welsh language version of the Prime Minister’s letter was missing from the hard copies distributed in Wales. This was a result of human error. The online version of the letter has subsequently been updated so that the Welsh language text is complete and additional quality control measures are now in place to prevent this from happening again.


Written Question
UK-Africa Investment Summit: Wales
Monday 27th January 2020

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2020 to Question 3175 on UK-Africa Investment Summit: Wales, what discussion he had with the Board of Trade on ensuring that Wales’ interests are represented in longer term engagement with Africa.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

Discussions at the UK Board of Trade on the UK-Africa Investment Summit and its opportunities for UK businesses involved my predecessor. As a quarterly meeting, the Board has not met since I became Secretary of State. My predecessor joined Prime Minister May’s 2018 Africa visit, alongside two Welsh businesses.

I will ensure that the views and interests of Wales are voiced at future meetings as the UK Board of Trade works to promote trade and post-Brexit trade opportunities across the whole of the UK.

Boosting the opportunities available for Welsh businesses is a key priority for my team who work closely with the Department for International Trade to ensure Wales is represented in all trade talks and negotiation, not just the UK Board of Trade.

The UK-Africa Investment Summit will create new lasting partnerships that will deliver more investment and jobs. This will benefit people and businesses in Africa and across the whole of the UK, including Wales, promoted through UK-wide activity.


Written Question
Overseas Trade
Thursday 23rd January 2020

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has been invited to attend the Department for International Trade's Ministerial Forum for Trade with the devolved administrations planned for January 2020.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

DIT is establishing the Ministerial Forum for Trade to ensure that the views of the Devolved Administrations are taken into consideration as we establish our independent trade policy. Territorial Office Ministers will be invited to meetings of the Forum by the Chair, as appropriate, including the inaugural meeting. The Secretary of State for Wales attends a wide range of events and meetings to ensure that UKG policy delivers for Wales, including trade policy.


Written Question
City Deals: Swansea Bay
Monday 18th February 2019

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what progress he has made on the joint investigations by the UK and Welsh Governments into the Swansea Bay City Deal.

Answered by Alun Cairns

Actica Consulting were appointed by the UK and Welsh Governments to undertake the Joint Independent Review of the Swansea Bay City Region City Deal in January 2019. The review is currently underway and I expect to receive the final report by the end of February.


Written Question
M4: Wales
Monday 5th November 2018

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on representations received by the UK Government from the Welsh Government on increasing borrowing capacity to fund the M4 relief road.

Answered by Alun Cairns

I have frequent discussions with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on a wide range of issues. I was pleased that the Chancellor was able to announce at Budget a review of the Welsh Government’s capital borrowing powers to consider whether the borrowing cap should be increased by up to £300m to support this vital project.