Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the service provided by Great Western Railway.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State and I regularly meet with Network Rail and Great Western Railway to discuss performance. With NR related delays reaching 71 per cent in December 2023, I have made it clear to the CEO of NR that they must address infrastructure issues that contribute to a high proportion of disruption. NR launched its £140 million Thames Valley Recovery Plan, focusing on improving infrastructure reliability over the next 18 months. I met with NR and GWR in Swindon last week to review progress and whilst we are seeing small improvements, there is a lot more work to be done.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he has made an assessment of the potential benefits to carers in Newport West of increasing the Carer's Allowance to £93 a week.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government continues to protect the value of benefits paid to carers whilst also spending record amounts in real terms.
The level of Carer’s Allowance is protected by uprating it each April in line with inflation as measured by the CPI for the previous September. The purpose of benefit uprating is to ensure that the value of benefits stays in line with the general level of prices. From April 2024, the Carer’s Allowance payment was increased to £81.90. Since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £81.90 a week, providing an additional £1,500 a year for carers.
Real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance in 2024/25 is forecast to be £4.1 billion. Between 2024/25 and 2028/29 real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance is forecast to rise by 12% - around £500 million. By 2028/29, the Government is forecast to spend just over £4.5 billion a year on Carer’s Allowance.
As well as Carer’s Allowance, carers have access to the full range of social security benefits. For example, carers on Universal Credit can receive around an additional £2,400 a year through the Carer Element.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK's food security.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption.
Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.
UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.
Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was produced in 2021 and the next will be published by December 2024. This report serves as an evidence base for policy work.
At the NFU Conference on 20 February 2024, the Prime Minister announced that we will introduce an annual Food Security Index to underpin the three-yearly UK Food Security report. This will present the key data and analysis needed to monitor how we are maintaining our current levels of self-sufficiency and overall food security.
We will publish the first draft of the Food Security Index during the second UK Farm to Fork Summit this Spring.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of climate change on the breeding habits of swans.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There has been no assessment of the impact of climate change on the breeding habits of the mute swan, which is the only UK breeding swan species.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the number of people who are in (a) paid employment and (b) receipt of universal credit in (i) Newport West constituency and (ii) Wales.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
(a)
The information requested is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
(b)
Monthly statistics on the number of people who are on Universal Credit by employment status, by parliamentary constituency and by domestic country, are published on Stat-Xplore, and are currently available to March 2024.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with international zoological accreditation and certification bodies on future regulations under the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government continues to make animal welfare a priority. The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of a ban on the advertising and offering for sale of specific low-welfare animal activities abroad. It is an important step in protecting animals from considerable suffering and unacceptable practices.
To this end, we have been generally engaging with stakeholders domestically and internationally and are currently exploring several options.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with international zoological facilities on future regulations under the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government continues to make animal welfare a priority. The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of a ban on the advertising and offering for sale of specific low-welfare animal activities abroad. It is an important step in protecting animals from considerable suffering and unacceptable practices.
To this end, we have been generally engaging with stakeholders domestically and internationally and are currently exploring several options.