Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence about the publication of documents held at the National Archives in relation to the bombing of RFA Sir Galahad.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State has had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence about the publication of such documents, but the Minister for Defence People and Families has recently visited The National Archives to view some of them.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the sustainability of probation officer caseload.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have increased funding for the Probation Service by an additional £155m a year since 2021 to recruit staff, bring down caseloads and deliver better supervision of offenders in the community.
We have also accelerated recruitment of trainee Probation Officers, particularly in areas with the most significant staffing challenges. As a result, over 4,000 trainees, a record number, have started on training courses between April 2020 and March 2023. These intakes will qualify by the end of 2024 and will have a direct impact on reducing caseloads.
The Probation Service is constantly monitoring staffing levels and retention, specifically in hard to recruit to areas, which remain challenging. We continue to take tactical decisions to mitigate the risk in sites where it is most acute, as well as taking forward several non-pay related activities to improve retention.
From September 2022 to September 2023, the Probation Service saw an increase in staff of 11.8%, Senior Probation Officers saw an increase of 13%, and Probation Officers saw an increase of 6.9%.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to increase the (a) student loan and (b) postgraduate loan repayment thresholds in line with (i) inflation and (ii) the national living wage.
Answered by Robert Halfon
As education, including higher education and student finance, is a devolved matter, this department is responsible for student finance in England only.
The student finance and funding system must provide value for money for all of society at a time of rising costs. It is important that a sustainable student finance system is in place, that is fair to students and fair to taxpayers.
The department has frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By the 2024/25 academic year, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven successive years.
The mechanism for setting repayment thresholds for student loans is set out and governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). This includes provision for annual adjustments, where applicable.
The department will continue to keep the terms of the student finance system under review to ensure that they keep delivering value for money for both students and taxpayers.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with the Board of the Post Office on the provision of financial evidence to claimants of the Horizon shortfall scheme to assist with their claims for redress.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government wants to ensure that all postmasters who experienced losses as a result of the Horizon scandal are provided with full and fair redress. It also recognises that given the significant time that has elapsed, it may be more difficult for claimants to provide evidence in support of their claim.
This was factored into the design of the Horizon Shortfall Scheme to ensure that postmasters will not be disadvantaged if there is a lack of records to support their claim.
There is an independent panel in place on the HSS, comprising of retail, legal and accountancy experts, which assesses each individual claim. The panel can exercise a degree of discretion to make fair awards where documentary evidence is lacking.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 16 January 2024 to Question 9201 on Biometric Residence Permits, how many and what proportion of applicants have been waiting more than 28 days following a decision for a biometric residence permit production request.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
At the point a decision is made to grant permission to remain, a BRP is automatically requested by the caseworking system and data is sent to DVLA for the BRP to be produced. Any automatic requests that become “stuck” when sent to DVLA are targeted and proactive reporting is being developed to identify such cases earlier.
During 2023 DVLA produced 99.6% of BRPs within 24 hours of this automatic request process and 100% within 48 hours.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps to publish all documents relating to the bombing of RFA Sir Galahad that are held at the National Archives.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The losses of RFA Sir Galahad due to enemy action was a tragedy. The sacrifice made by those onboard will not be forgotten, and we remain grateful to all the Armed Forces personnel and civilians who bravely served in the Falklands conflict.
The release of papers is governed through the Public Records Act (PRA).
At my request, officials have conducted a thorough review of the files under the terms of the Public Records Act (PRA) to determine whether any additional information can possibly be released, and I will be visiting The National Archives to view the files personally in the very near future as discussed last week.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with hospitality businesses in Wales on commercial energy costs.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
My officials and I regularly meet with businesses across Wales, including those in the hospitality sector, to discuss a variety of issues.
The Government provided an unprecedented package of support of £7.4 billion through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) which ended on 31 March 2023, shielding businesses and saving some around half of their wholesale energy cost.
The EBRS was replaced by the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS), which provides support to all eligible non-domestic energy users paying the highest energy prices starting from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. Since the scheme was introduced, wholesale energy prices have now fallen significantly, and inflation has fallen from its peak of 11.1% to 4%.
In addition, at Autumn Statement 2023, the government announced that it is freezing Climate Change Levy rates for 2025-26 to continue achieving CCL’s environmental objectives without increasing the impact to businesses’ energy bills.
The UK Government is providing further support to the hospitality sector by freezing alcohol duty until August 2024, and increasing the new Draught Relief duty from the initially proposed 5% to 9.2%. In addition, in England, we have extended the 75% relief on business rates available to hospitality, retail and leisure businesses. I am concerned about the impact of the cut to non-domestic rates relief for hospitality businesses proposed by the Welsh Government in their recent draft budget.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the payment of compensation to sub-postmasters in Wales affected by issues with the Horizon system.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Government has already paid out over £153 million to over 2,700 victims. In the overturned convictions scheme, 95 convictions have been overturned, with 31 claimants agreeing full and final settlements. Over £33 million has been paid out to those with overturned convictions, which includes interim payments and partial settlements.
Of the original trailblazing postmasters in the “GLO” group who took the Post Office to court and exposed the Horizon Scandal, £27 million has been paid out to 477 claimants. The original 2,417 postmasters who claimed through the original Horizon Shortfall Scheme have now all had offers of compensation. Offers have totalled over £107m and over £93 million has been paid out in this scheme, with Post Office now dealing with late applications and with those cases where the initial offer was not accepted.
In the coming weeks, we will introduce new primary legislation to quash all convictions that were reliant on erroneous Horizon evidence. Once this legislation is passed, and convictions have been overturned, they will be entitled to at least £600,000 in compensation to rebuild their lives.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Wales and (b) her Japanese counterpart on the geographical indication status of Welsh food and drink products in Japan.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The department is working closely with Japanese officials to agree a date for entry into force of the necessary amendments to the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, at which point the first tranche of British products will join the seven Geographical Indications (GIs) already in our agreement in receiving protected status. The Secretary of State discussed this process with her counterpart at the Joint Committee in Japan in October 2023.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for Transport and (b) Network Rail on the potential impact of Control Period 7 funding on (i) rail services and (ii) the condition of rail infrastructure in Wales.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
My officials and I have regular discussions with counterparts in the Department for Transport and Network Rail on a wide range of transport matters in Wales.
Between 2024 and 2029, the UK Government will be providing a record £44.1 billion settlement for Network Rail in Control Period 7 across England and Wales. This £44.1 billion settlement is roughly a 4% increase in real terms when compared to the previous control period.
The UK Government is committed to improving rail infrastructure in Wales and has allocated £1 billion to electrify the North Wales Mainline, delivered the £76 million electrification of the Severn Tunnel, contributed £144 million to the upgrade of the Core Valley Lines and provided £77.7 million for improvements to Cardiff Central Station.