Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government which of the "lower business rates multipliers" for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a rateable value of less than £500,000 will be applied in (1) Wales, (2) Scotland, and (3) Northern Ireland; and what discussions they have held with devolved administrations on this matter.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Business rates is a devolved policy area. Therefore, the new retail hospitality and leisure multipliers will apply in England only.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the average percentage increase in business rates payable by hospitality properties from April 2026 onwards, set out in Budget 2025, published on 28 November.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. Some properties, including in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, have seen their rateable values increased. This is in part because the last revaluation updated rateable values to align with market values on 1 April 2021 – during the CVOID pandemic. This meant rateable values were lower due to the atypical economic situation the pandemic created. This latest revaluation reflects a post Covid world, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties.
To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. Government support also means that most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since Covid.
Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of providing weight loss drugs through the National Health Service; to what extent are is this already undertaken; and, if so, in which localities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines should be routinely funded based on an assessment of their costs and benefits.
NICE has recommended liraglutide, under various brand names, semaglutide, under the brand name Wegovy, and tirzepatide, under the brand name Mounjaro, as treatments for obesity in adults with a high body mass index and with weight related co-morbidities. All medicines are recommended for use in specialist weight management services, with only tirzepatide also recommended for use outside of this setting.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are legally required to fund and make available medicines recommended by NICE, including obesity medicines, usually within three months of the publication of the final technology appraisal. NICE granted a phased rollout for the use of tirzepatide in primary care to manage NHS resources and allow time to establish new obesity care pathways.
These medicines should therefore be available on the NHS in specialist weight management services, where these services are available, and tirzepatide should have started to become available in primary care from 23 June 2025. We do not hold information on whether each ICB provides access to specific medicines in its locality. ICBs are responsible for ensuring they meet their legal duties, including making funding for NICE-recommended medicines available.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to take account of the absence of a structure of elected Mayors in Wales in the process of replacing police and crime commissioners.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We recognise that there are no plans to create elected mayors in Wales and that the devolved nature of local government creates unique circumstances. Whilst we wish to harmonise arrangements across England and Wales as far as possible, we will work with stakeholders in Wales, including the Welsh Government, to ensure the governance model replacing police and crime commissioners provides strong and effective police governance for Wales.
We are establishing transition working groups to consider the design and implementation of the future governance arrangements. One of these will specifically focus on design and implementation in Wales.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many jobs they anticipate creating in the AI growth zones planned for Wales; and by what year such employment will be achieved.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
AI Growth Zones will bring thousands of new jobs and millions of pounds in investment right to the places that need it most.
In North Wales, we anticipate 3,450 jobs will be created, and in South Wales we expect at least 5,000 jobs will be created - spanning construction, temporary roles and high-skilled engineering and technical roles.
Job creation will commence as infrastructure works progress, with full delivery of this infrastructure projected by the early 2030s.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the estimated total cost of the National Grid's Eryri Visual Impact Provision is; and by what date it will be completed.
Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not hold a specific estimate for the total cost or completion date of National Grid’s Eryri project. Responsibility for delivery and associated costs rests with National Grid under Ofgem’s regulatory framework.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government by what year 99 per cent of Wales will have 5G reception.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The rollout of 5G infrastructure is commercially driven and government does not hold data on where, or when, future rollout of mobile infrastructure will take place.
Government has a clear ambition for all populated areas to have higher quality 5G standalone connectivity by 2030. All three mobile network operators have committed significant investment across the UK working towards achieving this.
In Ofcom’s Connected Nations Annual Report 2025 (published November 2025), which shows coverage as of July 2025, 5G coverage is already present outside of 91% of premises across Wales, and that standalone 5G is available outside of 59% of premises
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from the Welsh Government concerning Allied Steel and Wire pensioners; and what response they have made.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A significant number of Welsh Government ministers have written to the Minister for Pensions regarding Allied Steel and Wire pensioners or raised the issue orally.
Partly in response to Welsh Government representations, Budget 2025 announced that the UK Government will introduce increases on compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme that relate to pensions built up before 6 April 1997. These will be CPI-linked (capped at 2.5%) and apply prospectively (i.e. to payments going forward) for members, including Allied Steel and Wire pensioners, whose former schemes provided for these increases.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are employed in the UK's creative economy.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In 2020, there were 3,518,000 filled jobs in the wider UK creative economy, which consists of 2,221,000 filled jobs in the creative industries, as well as 1,297,000 filled jobs in creative occupations in industries outside of the creative industries.
Following the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revision of Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) data, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in the process of defining which SOC2020 codes should be included in the creative occupations. Creative economy estimates for 2021 onwards will be published once this work has concluded.
We have more recent official statistics on the number of filled jobs in the creative industries, without creative occupations in industries outside of the creative industries. The most recent annual statistics show that in 2024, there were 2,409,000 filled jobs in the creative industries in the UK (8.5% more than in 2020).
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what defence expenditure is planned in (1) 2026–27, (2) 2027–28, and (3) 2028–30; and whether those figures take account of (1) the updated National Risk Register 2025, and (2) the danger of Russian aggression in the airspace or waters of the North Atlantic.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Following the Spending Review, the Government has set a clear path for defence spending to reach 2.6% of GDP from 2027. The exact figures were set out in the published Spending Review on 11 June 2025.
This takes account of the capabilities and reforms that the Strategic Defence Review has identified are needed to meet the challenges and threats, including countering Russian aggression, new nuclear risks, and daily cyber-attacks at home.