Ann Davies

The recovery of coal from former coal tips does not require licenses from the Mining Remediation Authority, formerly the Coal Authority. The majority of coal tips are in local authority or private ownership which includes legal responsibilities for their safety. Local authorities are the primary authority for coal recovery schemes from tips through planning permission and enforcement.

Previous question for reference

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to introduce legislation to ban future coal licensing.

Answer

The Government announced on 14th November 2024 its intention to introduce new legislation to restrict the future licensing of new coal mines. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-11-14/hcws215

The Government announced on 14th November 2024 its intention to introduce new legislation to restrict the future licensing of new coal mines. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-11-14/hcws215 This will be taken forward when timing allows.

Previous question

UIN 30533, tabled on 10 February 2025

Ann Davies Plaid Cymru Caerfyrddin Commons

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to introduce legislation to ban future coal licensing.

Answered on 13 February 2025

Michael Shanks Labour Rutherglen Commons

The Government announced on 14th November 2024 its intention to introduce new legislation to restrict the future licensing of new coal mines. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-11-14/hcws215

The Government announced on 14th November 2024 its intention to introduce new legislation to restrict the future licensing of new coal mines. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-11-14/hcws215

The responsibility for ensuring the safety of coal tips is a matter for the landowners and/or the Local Authority in most instances and is separate to the coal licensing duties in the 1994 Coal Industry Act.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring coal tip safety and just how much this issue resonates with local communities, particularly in the South Wales valleys, that is why the Government announced funding of £25m in 25/26 to the Welsh Government in the Budget, for making coal tips safe.

I refer the honourable member to the response from my honourable friend the Minister for Industry on 29 January 2025 (UIN 25410).

Building Digital UK (BDUK) became an Executive Agency on 1 April 2022. Each year, it publishes information on its total budget in its Annual Reports and Accounts. These are published on GOV.UK and cover the period from 1 April to 31 March.

In 2022 to 2023, the total annual budget was £90 million, and in 2023 to 2024 the total annual budget was £140 million. Information for 2024 to 2025 will be published in the next Annual Report and Accounts.

We are very focused on making sure that the transition - which is industry-led - happens safely and securely. The objective of the National Telecare Campaign is to identify vulnerable customers. The campaign is one method of identifying vulnerable customers, by raising awareness among telecare users and their family and friends. In addition, communication providers are identifying vulnerable people through data sharing agreements with local authorities, including in Ceredigion Preseli, and private telecare providers.

The Government is monitoring the development of the campaign and the number of data sharing agreements made by communication providers to identify vulnerable customers.

The Government published a consultation on Copyright and AI in December 2024.

This consultation seeks views on a number of issues relating to copyright and AI. It sets a clear objective of achieving proportionate transparency from AI developers over the creative content that is used to train their models.

The consultation closes on 25 February.

There are regulations that enable intellectual property rights owners to limit the sale of goods in some territories and these regulations may be used by rights owners to manage the parallel import of goods covered by their intellectual property rights.

The Government currently has no plans to establish mandatory press regulation.

This Government is committed to an independent and free media. Having a press that is completely separate from the Government is important to ensure the public have access to accurate and trustworthy information from a range of different sources. An independent self-regulatory regime is important to ensure the press adheres to clear and high standards. We are also clear, however, that with this freedom comes responsibility, and newspapers must operate within the bounds of the law. This includes ensuring access to clear, timely and effective routes to redress.

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent of the Government, and decisions on how it discharges its obligations, such as its changes to its BBC Sounds service, are a matter for the BBC. The Government has therefore not assessed the potential impact of the BBC’s changes to its BBC Sounds service.

I intend to visit Wales in the near future and discuss sporting and other issues with the Welsh Government and other Welsh stakeholders.

It is right that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Six Nations Rugby take a considered and balanced approach: recognising the need to achieve reach with existing and new fans, the importance that the Six Nations has for the cultural pride of each of the Home Nations, whilst maximising broadcast revenue.

BBC and ITV have now agreed a new four-year deal for the rights to the Six Nations, which will ensure that the Six Nations will remain on free to air television for people to enjoy for the foreseeable future.

The Government has no plans to re-introduce a similar scheme to the Young Audiences Content Fund, which concluded on 31 March 2022. However, the Government is committed to the success of our world-leading TV production sector. UK-wide television and film tax reliefs, including for children’s television programming, continue to play a vital role in driving production, with over £5.6 billion of expenditure supported in 2024.

Thinkbroadband estimates that, as of 24 February 2025, 97.5% of premises in Wales can access a superfast (30 Mbps and faster) connection, which in many cases is likely to be sufficient for those wishing to watch online. In addition, they estimate that 79.6% of premises in Wales can access a gigabit connection. These higher speeds are likely to provide for the best viewing experiences.

Parliament has already legislated to secure the continuity of digital terrestrial television until at least 2034. DCMS is currently undertaking a project to evaluate the future distribution of television as the sector continues to evolve over the next decade. Before any decision is made in relation to the availability of services beyond 2034, close consideration will be given to how any changes would impact audiences, and especially those who rely on digital terrestrial television as their primary means of watching television.

The Barnett formula is applied in the usual way, as set out in the Statement of Funding policy, to all changes to Defra’s budget. It is applied when departmental budgets change - not when departments announce how they are spending their budgets.

Barnett consequentials provided to the Welsh Government are not ringfenced for a specific policy area. It is for the Welsh Government to allocate their funding in devolved areas, including agriculture, as they see fit. The Welsh Government can therefore take its own decisions on managing and investing available resources, reflecting its own priorities and local circumstances, and it is accountable to the Senedd for these decisions.

Bluetongue does not impact human health or food safety, and the current outbreak of bluetongue serotype 3 affecting England has not had an impact on food security in the UK.

Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the devolved administrations to assess their disease risks and respond accordingly. However, Defra and the Devolved Governments work closely together with the aim to provide, where possible, a consistent and coordinated response across the UK. A key forum for this is the Animal Disease Policy Group, which is a UK-wide policy decision making group.

Defra’s disease control measures aim to limit the spread of infection, seeking to contain the number of animals that need to be culled, either for disease control purposes or to safeguard animal welfare, whilst balancing the burdens of controls against the benefits of eradication of bluetongue.

Our approach aims to reduce adverse impacts on the rural and wider economy, the public, rural communities and the environment (including impact on wildlife), whilst safeguarding the health and safety of those involved in controlling the outbreak and minimising the overall cost of any outbreak.

The Government recognises that keepers and businesses can be affected not only by the impacts of bluetongue disease on animals, but also by disease control measures. That is why Defra seeks to minimise these burdens where safe to do so by using exemptions under licenses, whilst maintaining the integrity and efficacy of measures intended to mitigate the risk of disease spread.

Compensation is available for keepers whose animals are required to be culled for disease control purposes by the Government. However, we would not expect to cull large numbers of animals due to bluetongue since culling becomes ineffective once disease is established within the biting midge population. There are no plans to introduce a wider compensation scheme in relation to bluetongue. As set out in The Animal Health Act 1981 compensation is not paid for consequential losses or business interruption including those caused by measures in force in disease control zones.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) leads Government action on animal disease control and has outbreak response plans, supported by the bluetongue virus (BTV) national reference laboratory at The Pirbright Institute. Response times are kept under regular review between Defra, Welsh Government, Scottish Government and APHA and appropriate action initiated where additional operational support is required.

Defra’s disease control measures aim to limit the spread of BTV infection through proportionate and evidence-based control measures, whilst balancing the burdens of controls against the benefits of eradication of bluetongue and minimising the cost of any outbreak both to government and farmers.

From 1 July 2025 the restricted zone for bluetongue will be extended to cover all of England. This change is being made because the area of England where disease has been found is now too large for movement restrictions to remain an effective and proportionate way of controlling the disease.

Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the devolved administrations to assess their disease risks and respond accordingly. However, Defra and the Devolved Governments work closely together with the aim to provide, where possible, a consistent and coordinated response across the UK. A key forum for this is the Animal Disease Policy Group, which is a UK-wide policy decision making group. Defra and Devolved Governments also engage closely with industry to inform policy development and implementation through the Livestock Core Group.

The Government recognises that keepers and businesses can also be affected not only by the impacts of bluetongue disease on animals, but also by disease control measures. That is why Government seeks to minimise these burdens where safe to do so using exemptions under licenses, whilst maintaining the integrity and efficacy of measures intended to mitigate the risk of disease spread.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) sends renewal reminders to drivers before their current licence is due to expire to prompt renewal applications to be made as early as possible.

Where the DVLA is made aware that a driving licence is required urgently for employment purposes the application will be processed as a priority. Most applicants will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing they meet certain criteria as outlined in this guidance at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla.

There are no delays in straightforward driving licence applications regardless of whether the driver was previously disqualified. These are being processed within normal turnaround times.

Driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) requires investigation can take longer as the DVLA is often reliant on information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued.

DVLA is continuing to make improvements to the services provided to drivers with medical conditions and is introducing a new strategic system to process cases. This will provide better services for customers and allow straightforward applications to be processed more quickly.

In the 2024/25 financial year, the average time to make a licensing decision in such cases was 44 working days, a significant reduction from 54 working days in the 2023/24 financial year.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) sends renewal reminders to drivers before their current licence is due to expire to prompt renewal applications to be made as early as possible.

Where the DVLA is made aware that a driving licence is required urgently for employment purposes the application will be processed as a priority. Most applicants will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing they meet certain criteria as outlined in this guidance at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla.

There are no delays in straightforward driving licence applications regardless of whether the driver was previously disqualified. These are being processed within normal turnaround times.

Driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) requires investigation can take longer as the DVLA is often reliant on information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued.

DVLA is continuing to make improvements to the services provided to drivers with medical conditions and is introducing a new strategic system to process cases. This will provide better services for customers and allow straightforward applications to be processed more quickly.

In the 2024/25 financial year, the average time to make a licensing decision in such cases was 44 working days, a significant reduction from 54 working days in the 2023/24 financial year.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) sends renewal reminders to drivers before their current licence is due to expire to prompt renewal applications to be made as early as possible.

Where the DVLA is made aware that a driving licence is required urgently for employment purposes the application will be processed as a priority. Most applicants will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing they meet certain criteria as outlined in this guidance at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla.

There are no delays in straightforward driving licence applications regardless of whether the driver was previously disqualified. These are being processed within normal turnaround times.

Driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) requires investigation can take longer as the DVLA is often reliant on information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued.

DVLA is continuing to make improvements to the services provided to drivers with medical conditions and is introducing a new strategic system to process cases. This will provide better services for customers and allow straightforward applications to be processed more quickly.

In the 2024/25 financial year, the average time to make a licensing decision in such cases was 44 working days, a significant reduction from 54 working days in the 2023/24 financial year.

The Bus Services (No.2) Bill primarily applies in England only. However, a small number of measures apply to Wales.

My officials are engaging with the Welsh Government to discuss the Bill’s interaction with Wales. This is in the context of the Welsh Government bringing forward the Bus Services (Wales) Bill, which proposes a fundamental restructure of Welsh bus services. These discussions are ongoing.

The Department for Transport acknowledges this report's contribution to resilient and sustainable supply chain discussions. The UK's reliance on global supply chains offers economic benefits but poses risks such as geopolitical tensions and environmental changes. To address these, through the G7 Supply Chains Working Group, this government is actively working to strengthen their resilience, ensuring it remains secure, diverse, and sustainable in the face of global challenges.

This work is part of a broader government effort, led by the Department for Business and Trade, to ensure UK supply chains remain secure and diverse. The University of Manchester's report will inform ongoing policy development.

The vast majority of claimants over State Pension age are on ongoing awards, with a light-touch review scheduled for 10 years. This is because we know that, as people get older, their conditions tend to get worse rather than better, and as such we think that is sensible and proportionate to reduce reassessment burdens on people over the pensionable age.

These claimants will therefore not undergo a review of their PIP award at the 10-year light touch review point, unless they request one due to change in their circumstances.

In line with existing policy, if they do request a review – such as due to an improvement or deterioration in their condition – after the new rules come into effect in November 2026, the four-point criteria will apply.

There is a small number of claimants over State Pension age on fixed-term awards, often because they have a planned operation or treatment that is likely to make a significant difference to how their condition affects them. Case managers will consider these on a case-by-case basis.

The first £10 of any War Pension payment or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) award made due to injury or disablement is disregarded in Pension Credit. Income is calculated on a weekly basis, so the disregard is £10 per week.

Four additions to the War Disablement Pension are completely disregarded: Constant Attendance Allowance; Mobility Supplement; Severe Disablement Occupational Allowance; and dependency increases for anyone other than the applicant or her / his partner.

War Pensions and AFCS awards are a qualifying income for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit, which is available to those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.

Armed Forces Independence Payments are fully disregarded in Pension Credit and can also allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount.

There are no plans to review the treatment of military compensation in Pension Credit.

For winter 2023 to 2024, around 631,000 pensioners received the Winter Fuel Payment in Wales. This is based on Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK.

Data covering winter 2024 to 2025 is not yet available. The next release of Winter Fuel Payment statistics will cover this period and will be published on 16 September 2025.

From this winter, individuals with an income of £35,000 or below, will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment. Winter Fuel Payments are £200 for a household with someone of State Pension age and £300 for a household with someone aged 80 or over. They will be paid automatically to anyone who has not opted out. Individuals with a taxable income above £35,000 a year will see any Winter Fuel Payment recouped via HMRC.

This means that the majority of pensioners in England and Wales – around 9 million individuals – will now benefit from Winter Fuel Payments.

For winter 2023 to 2024, around 631,000 pensioners received the Winter Fuel Payment in Wales. This is based on Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK.

Data covering winter 2024 to 2025 is not yet available. The next release of Winter Fuel Payment statistics will cover this period and will be published on 16 September 2025.

From this winter, individuals with an income of £35,000 or below, will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment. Winter Fuel Payments are £200 for a household with someone of State Pension age and £300 for a household with someone aged 80 or over. They will be paid automatically to anyone who has not opted out. Individuals with a taxable income above £35,000 a year will see any Winter Fuel Payment recouped via HMRC.

This means that the majority of pensioners in England and Wales – around 9 million individuals – will now benefit from Winter Fuel Payments.

The meeting between Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the First Minister of Wales on 4^th June 2025 was a positive discussion about areas of mutual interest, including the UK Government’s commitment to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible.