Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Welsh language translation on (a) question five and (b) part four of the cremation form one used by funeral directors; and whether he has plans to alter the translations.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is aware of an error in the translation of question 5 which sits under part 4 of the Welsh form Cremation 1. We are in the process of correcting this error, and we expect the revised form to be available shortly.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish the (a) annual total budget for and (b) amount of money allocated by the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme in each of the last five years.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The total annual budget for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme is £42,000,000 per year. Over the last five years, the funding allocation for places of worship under the grant scheme has been as follows:
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of £33,952,912 was allocated.
In 2021/2022, the allocation was £25,519,715.
In 2020/2021, the allocation was £28,708,075.
In 2019/2020, the allocation was £35,639,573.
In 2018/2019, the allocation was £35,994,884.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take steps to remove VAT from (a) services and (b) goods used for the repair and maintenance of (i) churches and (ii) other religious buildings.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme aims to redress financial shortfalls by providing grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship.
With annual funding increased to £42 million per annum, the scheme has made grants totalling over £300 million since its introduction.
There are no plans to introduce a new VAT relief for the repair and maintenance of places of worship. However, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many wives of deceased servicemen have been denied payments from the Armed Forces Pension Scheme as they were not married at the time of demobilisation in each of the past five years.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The information requested is not collated or held electronically. The information could only be generated at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many wives of deceased servicemen have been awarded discretionary pension payments despite not qualifying under the rules of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Armed Forces Pension Scheme's rules are enshrined in legislation. Therefore, no discretionary pension payments can be made to an individual unless all eligibility criteria are met.
Delegated authority from the Defence Council does allow for consideration of cases in view of making a Discretionary Widows award. However, there are five strict qualifying criteria, and the widow must meet all five in order receive such a payment.
A central record of applications for a discretionary award is not kept. However, following a recent Freedom of Information Request a physical search of 144 widows-related enquiries received since 30 June 2022 identified eight cases where an application was made. Of these cases, seven met all the qualifying criteria and were accepted for a discretionary award. The one case that was rejected for the discretionary award failed to meet the full qualifying criteria.
To identify every application during the previous five years would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many successful claims have been processed by his Department from farmers for aborted livestock caused by low-flying military aircraft in (a) Wales and (b) each Welsh county in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Heappey
No low flying claims have been settled in relation to aborted livestock in Wales in the five-year period from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the total amount of compensation paid to Welsh farmers as a result of low-flying military activity for each of the past five years, broken down by Welsh county.
Answered by James Heappey
The total amount of compensation paid in relation to low flying claims in Wales in the five-year period from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023 is £136, 763.95 as set out in the table below. This represents the total paid to all members of the public irrespective of occupation. Not everyone who makes a claim will state their occupation eg farmer and the MOD is not always able to verify this information.
Financial Year | Welsh County | Compensation |
FY2018-19 |
| £27,654.70 |
| Carmarthenshire | £3,146.70 |
| Ceredigion | £1,008.00 |
| Conwy | £20,000.00 |
| Powys | £3,500.00 |
FY2019-20 |
| £67,369.06 |
| Conwy | £16,770.00 |
| Monmouthshire | £44,228.00 |
| Powys | £6,371.06 |
FY2020-21 |
| £32,810.36 |
| Carmarthenshire | £28,121.38 |
| Conwy | £4,425.00 |
| Isle of Anglesey | £193.98 |
| Torfaen | £70.00 |
FY2021-22 |
| £6,721.55 |
| Carmarthenshire | £1,950.22 |
| Ceredigion | £4,771.33 |
FY2022-23 |
| £2,208.28 |
| Carmarthenshire | £2,208.28 |
Total |
| £136,763.95 |
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made a comparative estimate of the cost of (a) modern cable ploughing technology against (b) traditional overhead pylon technology in regard to electricity transmission infrastructure.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government consultation on the draft energy National Policy Statements closed on 23 June and we are reviewing the responses. This included that overhead lines should be the strong starting presumption for electricity networks developments but that in nationally designated landscapes the strong starting presumption will be that the applicant should underground the relevant section of the line. Decisions on which technology would be used for construction would be a matter for the developer. Government officials engage and meet with all devolved administrations, including Welsh Government, as required for policy development and evaluation.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government over the suitability of modern cable ploughing technology for the installation of 132kV electricity transmission infrastructure.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government consultation on the draft energy National Policy Statements closed on 23 June and we are reviewing the responses. This included that overhead lines should be the strong starting presumption for electricity networks developments but that in nationally designated landscapes the strong starting presumption will be that the applicant should underground the relevant section of the line. Decisions on which technology would be used for construction would be a matter for the developer. Government officials engage and meet with all devolved administrations, including Welsh Government, as required for policy development and evaluation.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many operational hours were flown in the Welsh Military Tactical Training Area in each of the past five years.
Answered by James Heappey
The military low flying statistics are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-pattern-of-military-low-flying-across-the-uk-index. The hours of Operational Low Flying training conducted in the Welsh Military Tactical Training Area (TTA 7T) are:
Financial Year | Operational Low Flying Hours |
2016-17 | 4 |
2017-18 | 4 |
2018-19 | 7 |
2019-20 | 0 |
2020-21 | 6 |
The hours for Financial Years 2021-22 and 2022-23 are currently being collated and will be published later in 2023. Low flying training in the United Kingdom ensures our Armed Forces are fully competent in a wide range of flying skills and tactics before they deploy on operations.