Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to announce the long-term funding solution for internal drainage boards.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Internal drainage boards (IDBs) are mainly funded locally through drainage rates paid directly by agricultural landowners and special levies issued to district or unitary authorities.

Defra and DLUCH are working together to review the funding pressures reported by IDBs and the contributing local authorities, to consider whether any changes to current funding arrangements may be needed in the future.

For the current financial year, the Government has announced a £75 million fund, for IDBs to support agricultural land and rural communities recover from recent flooding events and modernise infrastructure to increase future resilience. In addition, the Government is providing an additional £3 million in grant funding to support local authorities most significantly impacted by the increase in special levies in 2024-25.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many businesses Ofcom regulated (a) as of 20 May 2024 and (b) in 2016.

Answered by Julia Lopez

The government does not actively monitor how many businesses Ofcom are regulating. It is also not possible for Ofcom to provide an exact number for how many businesses it is currently regulating or regulated in 2016, as many of the companies that Ofcom regulates across a range of sectors are done so via general authorisation and notification regimes.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses the Financial Conduct Authority regulated (a) as of 20 May 2024 and (b) in 2016.

Answered by Bim Afolami

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 establishes the framework for financial services regulation. It provides for the Treasury and Parliament, through legislation, to determine which activities, products and markets are regulated and fall within the remit of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA is responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry, including authorising businesses.

The question of how many businesses the FCA regulated is a matter for the FCA, which is operationally independent from Government. The FCA will respond to the Honourable Member by letter on this matter, and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many businesses the Information Commissioner’s Office regulated (a) as of 20 May 2024 and (b) in 2016.

Answered by Julia Lopez

Under the Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018, individuals and organisations that process personal data need to register and pay a data protection fee to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), unless they are exempt.

At the end of December 2016, 457,846 organisations were registered with the ICO. The most recent figure shows that on 20 May 2024, 1,183,158 organisations were registered with the ICO.

Found: Matt Hancock 10R 2022– 235 Jun 2023 Breach of rule on lobbying the Commissioner by writing about

Found: These included the then: Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Minister

Found: pp In 2024, Matt Hancock MP presented the Neurodivergent Conditions (Screening and Teacher Training)

Found: Lord Gilbert of Panteg, then Chair of the House of Lords Communications Committee, wrote to Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: Simon Fell Alicia Kearns Maggie Throup Craig Whittaker Graham Stringer Mary Robinson Matt Hancock

Found: In front of the Inquiry the then Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, came close

Found: Following NHS Treatment 30 March 2017 CVHB0000040, and in relation to England the evidence of Matt Hancock

Found: before the Inquiry heard evidence from the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock

Found: significant progress and in February 2021 Penny Mordaunt wrote to the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock

Found: particular, they relied on statements by the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock

Found: Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 41 Our Ministers at 31 March 2020 The Rt Hon Matt Hancock

Found: before the Inquiry heard evidence from the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock

Found: significant progress and in February 2021 Penny Mordaunt wrote to the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock

Found: Following NHS Treatment 30 March 2017 CVHB0000040, and in relation to England the evidence of Matt Hancock

Found: particular, they relied on statements by the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock

Found: Letter dated 12/06/2024 from Sheree Howard, Executive Director, Authorisations, to Matt Hancock regarding

Found: Letter dated 03/05/2024 from Siobhán Sheridan, Chief People Officer, to Matt Hancock MP regarding written

Found: Letter dated 19/04/2024 from Chris Hemsley, Managing Director, Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), to Matt Hancock

Found: Reporter Matt Hancock says or has asked manufacturers to try and turn their machinery to making ventilators

Found: Briefing for call with Matt Hancock tomorrow [06/03/2020, 21:15:10] ~ Elinor Mitchell: I’ll forward it

Found: Tuesday 27 June 2023 The Inquiry heard evidence from (1) Matt Hancock , Paymaster General and Minister

Found: 2021-05-20 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Robin Swann ACD / MLA 2021-05-21 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Matt Hancock

Found: meetings that took place between Wales’ Health Minister Vaughan Gething and Health Secretary Matt Hancock

Found: there's any other way to describe it."7 He described what had happened as a "terrible injustice".8 Matt Hancock

Found: You have requested the following: In 2018, then Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, announced

Found: Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “By testing more people, including those without symptoms, we are

Found: UK Government’s Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, said: It is vital that we work together

Found: UK Government’s Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, said: With coronavirus cases rising,

<p>Thanks very much. I'm going to talk about my experience with the UK Government. To be honest, it was very limited. During the pandemic, to be fair, there were really strong relationships, very consistent discussions with people like Matt Hancock, people like Sajid Javid, and the moment they left the scene there was no relationship at all. That coincided with the time of absolute turmoil in your party. The real problem is that that turmoil infected everything that was going on in Government. They were wasted years, when people could have seen a difference in their lives. The fact is that that inter-governmental relationship absolutely broke down. I'm not sure how it worked for other members of the Government team, but I'm speaking for myself, and I can tell you that there was no relationship. So, I think you have got to take a degree of responsibility in the Tory party for that.</p>
<p>You talked about a dividend from Brexit. Well, I can't see much of a dividend from Brexit. Last week in a letter,&nbsp;you asked me to justify, after I spoke in First Minister's questions, how I could say that our exports have dropped. I hope you saw evidence to demonstrate that they have dropped. And also you promised in that referendum that Wales wouldn't be worse off financially, and it is. That is undeniable.</p>
<p>I don't know what's happened during the summer. It was a very strange summer, wasn't it? It was certainly a very strange summer for me. But it seemed like a bit of a strange summer for you, because you turned up at an agricultural show and you were genuinely asking people, 'Are you for or against devolution?' What a mad world you're living in, when you're sitting in this Parliament, and soon you're going to be going out and asking people about whether they should vote for you, and you're not even sure whether this place should exist. I've been in this position for 48 days—[<em>Interruption</em>.]</p>

<p>So, I&nbsp;think it was genuinely positive for Wales, not just for English regions, that, in the Prime Minister's first press conference, he reiterated his previous commitment to taking power out of Westminster to people, as he described, with skin in the game, with local decision makers in English regions and in nations across the UK. I think that really matters, to get away from the mischievous idea that the UK Labour Government is somehow interested in carrying on with a centralising mission for power. We saw that with the last Conservative Government, particularly in its last term, that it was more and more interested in stopping decisions being made in parts of the country where it doesn't win elections—that can't be the right way forward—and in a number of areas to try to reclaim powers that had been voted for in referenda and in multiple elections. So, reiterating that the current UK Government wants more devolution, not less, I think is really important, so we don't go back to a damaging pattern of having to defend the powers that the people of Wales have chosen to give us.</p>
<p>On the specific areas and opportunities that you raise, funnily enough, when I met the Prime Minister in Cardiff on Monday, I talked about opportunities for us to make progress, and semiconductors were one of the ones that I highlighted. We had a strategy from the previous Governments with £1 billion of resource, and lots of people in the sector thought that, actually, it was unlikely to be the scale of investment required if you're to lever in private sector investment, but the strategy took years—years and years—in fact, more than one Government term. I think when the strategy started, Matt Hancock was still the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and the strategy stayed there afterwards. So, it went through a whole term of Government without being completed, which was quite extraordinary. Then, when it arrived—there's not been any vigour in pursuing it from the previous UK Government. In fact, the then Minister responsible for this area of the economy claimed that we weren't going to see Taiwan being replicated in Newport. He talked down the opportunities, rather than looking to say, 'We have a strategy, let's go out and lever in private sector investment. Let's see how we can do that.'</p>
<p>So, we have a backdrop of failure on this. I think, though, that the recognition of semiconductors and what we have here is unique, still, in south-east Wales. It's an area where you can actually see people wanting to invest and there's an appetite to do that. What they need is stability and I think we have that now. I'm looking forward to the conversations that I'll have but also that Jeremy Miles, the economy Secretary, will have with the UK Government about the plans that we think work with investors that we know want to come to this part of Wales as well, and to actually see how the UK Government will help and enable that to happen, as well. I think it's worth just pointing out on semiconductor courses that they're crucial to large parts of how the economy is going to work. You know, advanced manufacturing—you're going to need more compound semiconductors. If you think about the cars we're going to drive as they move to more and more electric vehicles, you're going to see more compound semiconductors, not fewer. So, this is an area of real potential for growth in the future.</p>
<p>I'm proud of what we've done in securing KLA's investment in Wales and I think there's more we can do, and that's the plan that I want us to understand; the plans we have are not just devolution to Wales, but within Wales, including with economic partners, and then making sure that those match up with the UK Government. There is, of course, work taking place on how we have not just the commitments in manifestos, but actually seeing plans to enable us to deliver those, as well, with the Chancellor and a range of other Ministers in the UK Government. So, I think, over the coming months, you will see not just ambition in statements, but you'll see decisions being made to highlight that this is real.&nbsp;</p>