Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money they have earmarked for 2021–22 to meet the costs of refugees entering the UK from Ukraine; how much of this sum has been spent to date; and what is the sum budgeted for 2022–23 for the same purposes.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to the most vulnerable people. To support those fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Home Office has launched the Ukraine Family Scheme to allow thousands of families to be reunited in the UK. The Scheme allows immediate and extended family members of British nationals and people settled in the UK to come to the country. Those joining family through the Scheme will be granted leave to remain for 3 years, giving them certainty and ensuring their future in the country. The Scheme is free, and does not include any salary or language requirements.
Additionally, a new sponsored humanitarian visa route will be established to allow communities, private sponsors or local authorities to sponsor people to come the UK from Ukraine. The Treasury is working closely with departments across government on the design and funding of these new routes.
In addition to these changes to the immigration system, the government has already committed around £400m to support the current crisis in Ukraine. This includes up to £220m in much-needed humanitarian aid, which will help aid agencies respond to the deteriorating humanitarian situation, saving lives, protecting vulnerable people and creating a lifeline for Ukrainians with access to basic necessities. It also includes a commitment to match-fund the public’s first £20m of donations to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, our largest ever aid-match contribution. UK government humanitarian experts have also been deployed to the region to bolster the UK's support to countries receiving those fleeing the violence in Ukraine.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Written Answer by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 16 November (HL3703), how much expenditure was projected in the 2021 Spending Review for the maintenance of coal tips in England; and what was the Barnett consequential allocated to Wales corresponding to this expenditure.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will confirm the Coal Authority’s funding for the 2021 Spending Review (SR21) period in due course.
However, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, the Barnett formula is applied to changes in UK Government departments’ funding, not to total spending on individual programmes. Barnett consequentials therefore just represent the changes in the Welsh Government’s block grant funding, rather than being the total funding provided.
As a result of changes in UK Government departments’ funding, the UK Government is providing an additional £2.5 billion per year on average over the SR21 period to the Welsh Government through the Barnett formula, on top their £15.9 billion annual baseline. As noted in response to a previous question on this matter (HL3703) the Welsh Government is therefore more than fairly funded to deal with all devolved responsibilities, including coal tips. It is however for the Welsh Government to allocate this funding as they see fit across their devolved responsibilities.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) under what circumstances, applications made under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme between 1 August and 31 August were (a) accepted, and (b) approved, when such applications were submitted after the deadline for applications; and what criteria they used to decide which circumstances were deemed exceptional so as to accept such out-of-time applications.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
There is no appeal process available for those who have missed the CJRS deadline of 31 July 2020. However, if an employer wishes to raise a complaint about mistakes or unreasonable delays caused by HMRC, they have been asked to follow HMRC’s complaints procedure.
HMRC have accepted 1,360 claims relating to 1,114 employers that have been made from 1 August 2020 to 31 August 2020 for a period on or prior to 30 June 2020.
The main reasons for the claims being accepted are:
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total additional financial allocation, over and above the budgeted amounts for 2019–20 and 2020–21, respectively, they have made available to the Welsh Government to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have so far announced £2.3 billion of additional funding for the Welsh Government in 2020-21 to support people, businesses and public services in Wales.
This is in addition to the UK-wide measures that the people and businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will benefit from, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional financial allocation they have made respectively to (1) the Welsh Government, (2) the Scottish Government, and (3) the Northern Ireland Executive, to deal with the implications of COVID-19, in addition to the budget allocation for the current financial year.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Our response to Covid-19 needs to be UK-wide and that is why UKG has so far announced almost £7 billion of additional funding to the devolved administrations to support people, business and public services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This means £3.5 billion for the Scottish Government, £2.1 billion for the Welsh Government and £1.2 billion for the Northern Ireland Executive.
This is in addition to the UK-wide measures that the people and businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will benefit from, including the Job Retention Scheme, Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Following agreement with the devolved administrations, the Department of Health and Social Care is procuring tests, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and ventilators on a UK-wide basis. The devolved administrations will therefore receive a share of this equipment, rather than a share of the funding.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional capital resources they plan to make available to the Governments of (1) Wales, (2) Scotland, and (3) Northern Ireland, to fund capital expenditure in the financial year 2020–21 on flood prevention projects.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Flood prevention is a devolved policy area. It is for the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive to determine how to allocate their funding across their devolved responsibilities, including to flood prevention.
In 2020-21, the devolved administrations have the following capital block grants: £ 5,014m for the Scottish Government, £2,181m for the Welsh Government, and £1,524m for the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Barnett formula is being applied in the normal way on any planned changes in UK government departmental budgets, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, including to any additional funding for flooding in England.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional money, over and above that provided by the Barnett formula, they intend to provide to the Welsh Government for the current financial year to meet any additional costs arising from flood damage and alleviation work for (1) households, (2) businesses, (3) farms, and (4) to secure the safety of coal tips.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The devolved administrations can access the HM Treasury Reserve in certain circumstances, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
The Welsh Government has not made any requests to access the Reserve in 2019-20 for flooding damage or alleviation work.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Draft Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, published on 14 November, what are the estimated payments to be made by the UK to the EU as reimbursements of the costs of facilitating access for the UK to relevant networks, information systems and databases under the provision of Articles 50 and 53, for the years 2019–20 and 2020–21.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK recognises that access to any IT system does not come without cost, and it is right that we pay those costs that the rest of the EU would necessarily incur in providing for access to those systems. The Withdrawal Agreement sets out that the UK will pay the actual costs of providing access to those systems and therefore the amount that the UK will pay will depend on the amount that the systems are used.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
Her Majesty's Government what level of central Government spending per capita is anticipated for (1) Wales, (2) Scotland, (3) Northern Ireland, and (4) London in the current financial year.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK Government does not allocate planned spending on a regional basis. However, the latest figures for outturn public expenditure per capita in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and London are below. These were published in the government’s Country and Regional Anlalysis in November 2016.
Area | £ per head (2015-16 outturn) |
Wales | 9,996 |
Scotland | 10,536 |
Northern Ireland | 10,983 |
London | 10,129 |
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
Her Majesty's Government what plans they have developed to ensure that, following Brexit, funding which has previously been supplied to Wales through European Structural Funds will be fully replaced with UK Treasury funds.
Answered by Lord Bates
The government has announced a number of guarantees for EU funding. These include European structural and investment fund projects signed before the UK leaves the EU, awards made by the European Commission following competitive bid processes, and maintaining the current level of agricultural funding under CAP pillar 1 until 2020.
Beyond these priorities, decisions on the replacement of EU funding will be taken in light of wider UK strategic priorities and other domestic spending decisions. For example, as set out in our manifesto, the government will continue to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the parliament, and will create a new UK Shared Prosperity Fund.