Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what proportion of her Department's procurement contracts were awarded to UK companies in the last financial year.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder).

Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023 above £12,000 inc. VAT are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service. This includes a note of the winning supplier (https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search).

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to her oral answer in response to the question from the hon. Member for Lichfield of 16 July 2025, Official Report, Column 282, what the evidential basis is for her statement on historic underfunding.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

I regret that the Hon. Member seems to refuse to accept or acknowledge the historic underfunding. When I gave evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee in January, there was widespread agreement that this was the case and many others have expressed similar sentiments.

The low levels of enhancement spending we have seen in recent years makes it more difficult to realise the modal shift needed to sustain a continuous enhancements pipeline. Denying that there has been underfunding is not the way address the problem. This government prefers to tackle the issue head on, starting with at least £445m of spending, front-loaded to support delivery of Wales' priorities for rail infrastructure during this next Spending Review period.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many employees in her Department earn (a) £100,000 and (b) £166,000 or more per year.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

My Department publishes an Annual Report on GOV.UK which contains salary details for senior officials in the Wales Office.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to her oral answer in response to the question from the hon. Member for Lichfield of 16 July 2025, Official Report, Column 282, over what period that £445 million covers; and what the allocated spending is in each financial year.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

Following the Spending Review, the UK Government is investing at least £445m into Welsh rail infrastructure upgrades, with the vast majority of this funding to be spent within the Spending Review period.

This investment will mean new stations and more and faster trains on the key lines across North and South Wales. The UK Government is working in collaboration with the Welsh Government, Network Rail and Transport for Wales, through the Wales Rail Board.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact and allocation of the funds budgeted to support those who lose their jobs as a result of the transformation of Port Talbot.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Wales, supports those affected by Tata Steel UK’s decarbonisation transition and is supported by £100 million of funding. £80 million of which is provided by the UK Government, as confirmed by the Chancellor in the Budget on 30 October, and the remaining £20 million is provided by Tata Steel UK. The joint investment by UK Government and Tata Steel UK of £1.3 billion in an Electric Arc Furnace at Port Talbot has helped to protect 5,000 jobs and many more within the supply chain.

The Transition Board, in under a year, allocated the full UK Government £80 million funding to help those people and businesses affected by the transition, and to regenerate the local area. The UK Government Funds have created:

• The Supply Chain Transition Fund, to help businesses adapt to new markets.

• The Employment and Skills Fund, to help individuals re-train and find new well-paid jobs.

• The Business Start-Up Fund, to help people affected start new businesses.

• The Business Growth and Resilience Funds to help businesses reliant on Tata Steel UK but not in the supply chain, such as shops and cafes, adapt to the changes.

• Mental health and wellbeing support, to provide additional help to those affected.

• Regeneration projects, to create new business space for local businesses; to help remediate land and flood mitigation for the creation of an innovation centre in Port Talbot; and to create a skills centre for future green skills in green energy.

• An Economic Growth and Investment Fund is in development, to attract inward investment into Port Talbot, to create new, well-paid jobs for those affected by job losses.

The Transition Board receives updates on the impact of the funds at every Board meeting, containing data provided by delivery partners, such as Neath Port Talbot Council and Business Wales. The Transition Board last met on 26 June, and the following progress was reported up until that date:

• The Employment and Skills Fund: more than 2,800 training courses and qualifications have been funded so far.
• The Supply Chain Fund: 240 jobs have been safeguarded, and 26 new jobs have been created so far.
• The Resilience and Growth Funds: a total of 192 enquiries for support have been received so far.
• The Business Start-Up Fund: 12 new business have been created.

Funding for growth and regeneration projects in Port Talbot have also been funded by the Transition Board:

• On 6 February, the Secretary of State for Wales announced over £8m of the Transition Board funding to support the South Wales Industrial Transition from Carbon Hub project. This will redevelop a four-acre site at Harbourside, Port Talbot which will include the construction of additional shared space, undertake flood mitigation and the provision of specialist equipment. This investment will help establish an Innovation District in Port Talbot. This will support more than 100 jobs and bring an estimated £87.7 million in GVA benefits to the local economy.

• Three additional growth and regeneration projects were announced by the Secretary of State for Wales on 22 May, which committed over £20m for the creation of an Advanced Manufacturing Production Facility (AMPF) and National Net Zero Skills Centre of Excellence; and for the redevelopment of Metal Box and Sandfields Business Centre. These two projects will support over 270 jobs, and bring an estimated £119 million in GVA benefits to the local economy.

The growth and regeneration projects will also create construction jobs during the building, refurbishment and remediation phases.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether her Department has spent money on promotion through social media influencers since July 2024.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

The Wales Office has not spent money on social media influencers since July 2024.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what proportion of staff in her Department did not meet the minimum office attendance target in the latest period for which data is available; and what sanctions her Department issues to staff who do not meet this target.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

We have no record of any staff failing to meet the minimum office attendance target for the latest period for which data is available.

On 24 October 2024, the Cabinet Office announced that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Senior managers will continue to be expected to be in the office more than 60% of the time.

If people do not meet that reasonable expectation, as with any management instruction it will be dealt with via existing performance management processes and ultimately with disciplinary action should there be sustained failure to comply.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what proportion of staff in her Department have flexible working arrangements; and how many of those work compressed hours.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

My Department operates a hybrid working policy, which is available to all staff and enables them to work in a flexible way based on the needs of the Wales Office. No staff currently work compressed hours on a contractual basis.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 in Wales in reducing surface water flooding since 2019.

Answered by Nia Griffith

This is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government undertook a review in 2023, the results of which can be found here:

https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2023-07/sustainable-drainage-systems-suds-schedule-3-post-implementation-review.pdf

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

Following a search of our paper and electronic records, we have established that information on the number of workdays completed remotely in 2024 and 2025 is not held by the Wales Office.

Found: Statistical Bulletin 2023 Deaths registered in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics 4

Found: Statistical Bulletin 2023 Deaths registered in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics 4

Found: “Death Registration Summary Statistics, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics.”

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the proportion of violent crime that is linked to gang activity.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and Home Office police recorded crime data contains information on violent crime and is published by the ONS (Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics and the nature of violent crime: appendix tables - Office for National Statistics).

Found: Domestic abuse victim characteristics, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics.

Found: ethnicity/demographics/age-groups/latest/ Sexual orientation Sexual orientation, England and Wales - Office

Found: The Future of the High Street, 2024 11 ONS Centre for Crime and Justice, Crime in England and Wales – Office

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