Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with (a) his ministerial colleagues and (b) his counterpart in the Welsh Government on the operation of the apprenticeship levy in Wales.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
We are currently discussing the operation of the apprenticeship levy with the Welsh Government, and other devolved administrations, to ensure they can get their fair share of the revenue and, as far as possible, develop a system for administering the levy which complements the skills and apprenticeship policies of each of the devolved administrations.
We are committed to doing all we can to make the system work for employers wherever they are in the UK.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many times he has visited each parliamentary constituency in Wales in an official capacity in the 2015-16 session of Parliament.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
Wales Office Ministers regularly visit Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales. In each instance, the respective honourable Member is notified of the visit.
Details of Ministerial visits and meetings are published on the Wales Office website, and in Quarterly Ministerial Transparency Returns. In addition, visits and meetings conducted in support of the Wales Office Business Plan are published in the Wales Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Wales Office Ministers are always keen to receive invitation requests from honourable Members.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much his Department spent on (a) temporary agency staff, (b) consultants, (c) non-payroll staff, (d) administration and (e) marketing and advertising (i) in 2014-15 prices and (ii) as a proportion of his Department's expenditure in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Alun Cairns
The Wales Office spend on (a) temporary staff, (b) consultants, (c) non-payroll staff, (d) administration and (e) marketing and advertising as a proportion of Wales Office expenditure in each year since 2010-11 is shown in the table attached.
The numbers shown are actual spend as published in the Wales Office Departmental Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what estimate he has made of his Department's expected underspend against Departmental Expenditure Limits in 2015-16; what his Department's forecast is of total Annually Managed Expenditure in 2015-16; and what that forecast was at the time of the (a) Summer Budget 2015 and (b) March Budget 2015.
Answered by Alun Cairns
As recommended by the Treasury, Departments are encouraged to maintain a reserve. The Wales Office maintains a reserve of around 5% of its annual Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL), which represents our forecast underspend. This underspend can increase or decrease if planned expenditure is higher or lower than expected. In 2015-16, our DEL is £4.432m which includes the Departmental reserve of £0.222m. Our forecast of Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) is £-0.020m.
The reserve stated above was also our forecast underspend at the time of the summer budget in 2015. The Department does not forecast underspends for the following financial year at the March budget. Each March, the Wales Office focuses on completing the financial transactions and processes of that current financial year.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, for what reasons the draft Wales Bill would seek to change the criteria on which the Assembly could legislate outside its normal competence, as set out in section 108(5) of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
The purpose of the reserved powers model in the draft Wales Bill is to define clearly the legislative competence reserved to the UK Parliament. At the same time, it enables the Assembly to modify the law in areas that would otherwise be reserved to enforce, or otherwise give effect to, its legislation.
It is right that this freedom should be balanced by a test to be applied when the Assembly seeks to modify the law in areas that are not devolved. For that reason the draft Bill defines the circumstances in which it can do so and the test to be applied – the test of necessity. This gives the Assembly flexibility to modify the law in areas outside devolved competence in order to enforce its legislation effectively, whilst ensuring the effect on these areas goes no further than necessary.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, with reference to the draft Wales Bill, for what reason it is his policy to remove the wording of the Government of Wales Act 2006 which states that an Act of the Assembly may make any provision that could be made by an Act of Parliament.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
The current conferred powers model of Welsh devolution sets out what an Assembly Act can do. In contrast, a reserved powers model need only set out what an Assembly Act cannot do. Under the draft Wales Bill an Assembly Act would be able to include any provision that is not outside the Assembly’s legislative competence. The wording is not therefore needed.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how the Government plans to monitor and enforce clause 2 of the draft Wales Bill.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
Clause 2 of the draft Wales Bill will place the existing convention that Parliament will not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the consent of the National Assembly for Wales on a statutory footing. The Government will continue to work with the Welsh Government to obtain the Assembly’s consent (via legislative consent motions) to legislation in devolved areas included in parliamentary Bills. Similarly,where Welsh Government is legislating in relation to the functions of reserved authorities, they should seek the consent of UK ministers, and the draft bill makes this clear.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, with reference to the Written Statement by the Secretary of State for Scotland, HCWS282 whether he plans to bring forward proposals to amend the draft Wales Bill to include a requirement that the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Government should not be abolished except on the basis of a decision of the people of Wales.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
Clause 1 of the draft Wales Bill reflected the equivalent clause in the Scotland Bill on the date of publication. The Government will consider carefully whether any changes to the wording of the Scotland Bill clause should be reflected for Wales in the Wales Bill