Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of planned UK trade deals on Welsh hill farmers.
Answered by David T C Davies
Wales’ identity is intrinsically linked to its landscape and the farming communities who work that land. The Government is committed to supporting Welsh farmers in seizing new opportunities the trade deals bring.
The Department for International Trade’s Wales-based team will help Welsh business, including farmers and food producers, grow abroad.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps he is taking to improve his Department's response times to correspondence from members of the public.
Answered by Lord Hart of Tenby
The Government recognises the importance of responding to members of the public in an effective and timely manner, and the Cabinet Office published an updated Guide to Handling Correspondence for government departments and agencies in July 2021.
The guidance reasserts the standards for handling correspondence, including a 20 working day deadline for departments to respond to members of the public, criteria outlining when a response to a member of the public is required, and when a piece of correspondence from a member of the public should be transferred to another department. Following publication of the updated guidance, all departments have been reminded that they must follow the processes outlined in the guidance.
The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales has a 15 working day deadline to reply to correspondence where a response is required. Correspondence response times are regularly monitored and reported to the Departmental Board. Internal processes have been improved to ensure members of the public are responded to in a timely manner.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many non-UK citizens are employed by his Department.
Answered by Guto Bebb
The Ministry of Justice provide employment services on our behalf. The Wales Office is not an employer in its own right and therefore does not hold this information.