Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, when a Minister in his Department last made an official visit to Ogmore constituency.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I both live in Wales and serve Welsh constituencies. We have a consistent presence in Wales as we conduct many visits, events and meetings in Wales on a regular basis.
Details of Ministerial visits and meetings are published on the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales’ website and in Quarterly Ministerial Transparency Returns. In addition, visits and meetings conducted in support of the Wales Office priorities are published in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales Annual Report and Accounts.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Ogmore. A typical household in Wales has received almost £2000 in UK Government support to help with the cost of living. This includes over 207,000 payments delivered in Ogmore through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. During the Covid-19 pandemic over 12,000 jobs were supported through the furlough scheme, over £22 million was claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and over £41 million was given to businesses through government-backed business loans
The UK Government has also supported innovation within Ogmore with over £2.4 million awarded by Innovate UK since April 2019. Ogmore has also received over £4,000 through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme to level up local sports facilities.
In addition, Bridgend, the local authority for the Ogmore constituency, is receiving over £23 million from the UK Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The constituency also benefits from the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, including the £50 million region-wide sites and premises fund.
This Government is investing in Wales like never before; over £790 million in four City and Regional Growth Deals covering the whole of Wales, £585 million for local authorities to invest through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including over £100 million for the Multiply adult numeracy programme, £330 million in capital investment through the Levelling Up Fund and £3.2 million to preserve community assets through the Community Ownership Fund. Wales will benefit from two Freeports backed by £52 million, the British Business Bank’s new £130m Regional Investment Fund, and from Project Gigabit which will enable hard to reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, when a Minister in his Department last made an official visit to Pontypridd constituency.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I both live in Wales and serve Welsh constituencies. We have a consistent presence in Wales as we conduct many visits, events and meetings in Wales on a regular basis.
Details of Ministerial visits and meetings are published on the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales’ website and in Quarterly Ministerial Transparency Returns. In addition, visits and meetings conducted in support of the Wales Office priorities are published in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales Annual Report and Accounts.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Pontypridd. A typical household in Wales has received almost £2000 in UK Government support to help with the cost of living. This includes around 216,000 payments delivered in Pontypridd through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. During the Covid-19 pandemic around 13,000 jobs were supported through the furlough scheme, around £29 million was claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and around £62 million was given to businesses through government-backed business loans. The UK Government has also supported innovation within Pontypridd with over £4.3 million awarded by Innovate UK since April 2019.
In addition, Rhondda Cynon Taf, the local authority for the Pontypridd constituency, is receiving over £45 million from the UK Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Rhondda Cynon Taf is also receiving over £16 million from the Levelling Up Fund for transport improvements and for refurbishment of the Muni Arts Centre in Pontypridd. The constituency also benefits from the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, including the £31 million region-wide housing viability gap fund.
This Government is investing in Wales like never before; over £790 million in four City and Regional Growth Deals covering the whole of Wales, £585 million for local authorities to invest through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including over £100 million for the Multiply adult numeracy programme, £330 million in capital investment through the Levelling Up Fund and £3.2 million to preserve community assets through the Community Ownership Fund. Wales will benefit from two Freeports backed by £52 million, the British Business Bank’s new £130m Regional Investment Fund, and from Project Gigabit which will enable hard to reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to reply to the correspondence of 20 March 2023 from the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, reference MIN/0549165/23.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office will respond in due course.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure its telephone lines are accessible to the public without incurring undue delays.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP plans resourcing according to forecasted telephony demand in an effort to keep wait times down. Wait time performance and forecasted demand is frequently reviewed, and where DWP’s telephony is delivered by an outsourced provider we use the Key Performance Indicator of percentage of calls answered which are published quarterly on gov.uk.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he plans to issue a substantive written response to the correspondence of 23 January 2023 from the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, regarding changes to the Warm Home Discount.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I wrote to the hon. Member on 9th March regarding changes to the Warm Home Discount scheme.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of not including (a) swimming pools and (b) other leisure services in the list of sectors eligible for the Energy and Trade Intensive Industries scheme on their financial viability.
Answered by Graham Stuart
During the review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, a large number of contributions from the private sector, trade associations, the voluntary sector and other types of organisations were assessed. These included leisure centres and swimming pools. The Government has taken a consistent approach to identifying the most energy and trade intensive sectors. All sectors that meet agreed thresholds for energy and trade intensity will be eligible for Energy and Trade Intensive Industries support. These thresholds have been set at sectors falling above the 80th percentile for energy intensity and 60th percentile for trade intensity, plus any sectors eligible for the existing energy compensation and exemption schemes.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to provide a substantive response to the correspondence of 5 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, reference MC2022/24200.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A reply will be sent to the hon. Member in due course.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made with Cabinet colleagues of the impact of the cost of living crisis on levels of fuel poverty.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The official fuel poverty statistics, including the impact of high energy prices on fuel poor households, are due to be published next month.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to issue a substantive written response to the correspondence of 9 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, reference MC2022/29111.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are grateful to the honourable Member for bringing this matter to our attention. The Minister for Europe will issue a response to the honourable Member in due course and regrets the delay in responding to this.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the technical issues that have been outstanding since 2018 to award National Insurance credits to Universal Credit claims will be resolved.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The technical issues referenced were identified, and DWP have taken the steps to correct them.