Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Home Office employees are employed in Wales in (1) police services, (2) prison services, (3) border control, and (4) other services.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Of the areas listed, the Home Office only provides border control services. Of the 957 Home Office staff based in Wales. Unfortunately, the number of Border Force members of staff cannot be released for national security reasons.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made towards the creation of an electricity grid interconnector between north-west and south-west Wales.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As part of the Network Options Assessment (NAO) which accompanied the Holistic Network Design (HND), the Electricity System Operator (ESO) identified the need for a new network reinforcement between North and South Wales. National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) is responsible for delivery of the required infrastructure. NGET is currently undertaking a detailed design phase to determine the exact route.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the anticipated timetable for the electrification of the mainline railway connection between Crewe and Holyhead.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are working closely with the rail industry to develop and deliver on the Government priorities outlined in the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement, which includes an unprecedented £1 billion investment to fund the electrification of the North Wales Main Line, bringing parts of North Wales within an hour of Manchester. We are in the early stages of planning the next steps for this scheme and will share further information when that work is complete. Our investment is intended to enable the operation of electric trains over the full North Wales Coast line between Holyhead and Crewe.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people died as result of road accidents in England in the most recent period of five years for which complete figures are available; of these, (1) how many deaths occurred on roads where there was a speed limit in effect of 40 miles per hour or below, and (2) how many where no such speed restriction was in force.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The overall number of reported road fatalities in England in the last 5 years, those occurring on roads of which the permanent speed limit was 40 miles per hour or under, and those occurring on roads of which the permanent speed limit was above 40 miles per hour are shown in the table.
Year | Fatalities | Fatalities where the speed limit was 40 miles per hour (mph) or under | Fatalities where the speed limit was above 40 miles per hour (mph) |
2018 | 1,521 | 731 | 790 |
2019 | 1,489 | 725 | 764 |
2020 | 1,246 | 598 | 648 |
2021 | 1,329 | 644 | 685 |
2022 | 1,443 | 684 | 759 |
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consequential payments they are making to the Welsh and Scottish Governments under the Barnett formula as a result of their recent announcement of additional funding for the promotion of the game of chess in schools and communities in England.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The funding for promoting chess in schools in England was funded from within existing budgets. As such, there are no additional Barnett consequentials from this decision.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional funding they have made available to the Welsh Government over and above the basic budget provision for Wales in the financial year 2023–24; and for what purposes any specific use was stipulated.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Spending Review 2021 set the largest annual block grant, in real terms, of any spending review settlement since the devolution Acts. This provided the Welsh Government with £2.5 billion in 2023-24 through the Barnett formula, on top of their £15.9 billion baseline. They also received over £320 million of ringfenced non-Barnett funding for 2023-24 for farming and fisheries.
On top of this settlement, the Welsh Government have received an additional £745 million through the Barnett formula for 2023-24, largely as a result of decisions made at Autumn Statement 2022 and Spring Budget 2023. They have also received around £450 million in non-Barnett funding for 2023-24 since Spending Review 2021.
It is for the devolved administrations to allocate their Barnett-based funding in devolved areas as they see fit. They can therefore take their own decisions on managing and investing available resources, reflecting their own priorities and local circumstances, and they are accountable to the devolved legislatures for these decisions. Non-Barnett funding is generally ringfenced, meaning it can only be spent for the purpose it was given.
A breakdown of Barnett and non-Barnett funding, including the policy areas for which the non-Barnett funding is ringfenced, can also be found in the Block Grant Transparency publication. This publication is updated regularly, and the most recent report was published in July 2023.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to have discussions with senior staff at the British Museum about returning the Mold Gold Cape to Wales.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The British Museum operates independently of His Majesty's Government, and decisions relating to the care and management of its collections are a matter for the Museum’s trustees.
The British Museum, as well as some other national museums, is prevented by law from removing objects from its collections, with a limited number of exceptions, none of which apply in this case. The Government has no plan to change the law.
As the former Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, recounts in his A History of the World in 100 Objects (2010), it is thanks to the work of the British Museum over more than a century that so many fragments of the Mold Gold Cape have been reunited, following their dispersal shortly after it was discovered at Bryn-yr-Ellyllon in 1833.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, in promoting the UK as a tourist destination, to ensure that appropriate prominence is given to the attractions of Wales.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government works to promote the whole United Kingdom as a destination for tourists, both domestic and international, working with the devolved governments and administrations across the UK.
VisitBritain promotes the UK abroad by running advertising and promotional campaigns in prospective markets. It generates a return on investment of £21 for every £1 spent; as a result of its activity, international visitors spent an additional £34 million in Wales in 2019–20 alone.
Visit Wales leads on the development of a tourism brand specifically for Wales, while VisitBritain works with Visit Wales to ensure that these brand values are reflected in the broader GREAT Campaign, which highlights a number of the many wonderful destinations and experiences on offer across Wales.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce legislation to require all providers of public services (whether the provider is a public body or in the private sector), to provide a facility, whenever they email customers or potential customers, for that email to be answered by email and not to prevent a response with a "no-reply" communication address.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office is not aware of any plans to introduce legislation preventing departments from responding with a "no reply" email.
Each department is responsible for deciding how it communicates with members of the public by email.
Some departments may wish to send emails from a "no reply" email address to ensure that follow up emails are sent through the correct routes and handled consistently and effectively. However, all departments will either have an email address or a contact form that can be accessed on GOV.UK for members of the public.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding was received by (1) Wales and (2) Scotland, under the EU's Erasmus programme in each of the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Data published by British Council and Ecorys acting as the UK National Agency for the 2014/20 Erasmus+ Programme, is available at: https://erasmusplus.org.uk/results-and-statistics.html.
This data indicates that the amount of funding received by applicants in Wales in 2014, 2015 and 2016 was €5,134,268.50, €6,796,296.50, and €8,979,210 respectively. This funding covered Key Action 1: Learner and Staff Mobility in Higher education, Vocational education and training, Schools, Adult education, and Youth, as well as Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships and Key Action 3: Youth Structured Dialogue.
Applicants in Scotland received €12,216,190 in 2014, €14,347,139 in 2015 and €15,099,037.80 in 2016 under the EU Erasmus+ Programme. This funding covered Key Action 1 and Key Action 2 only between 2014 and 2016 as no applicants from Scotland received funding for Key Action 3 during this period.