Ann Davies

The Department for Business and Trade has committed to consult on employment rights for parents of seriously ill children, including terminally ill children, and will develop this consultation in partnership with key stakeholders such as the charity It's Never You. Developing and delivering this consultation will allow the department to properly consider the merits and potential costs of any such entitlement.

DBT hosts a wide range of events across all sectors to promote exports, including bringing over 100 businesses to Cardiff as part of the Made in the UK, Sold to the World tech roadshow in Cardiff.

We are also piloting Digital Trade Corridors to ease border processes and modernising export services to improve accessibility. These measures aim to reduce trade friction and help Welsh businesses grow their EU exports ahead of the SPS Agreement’s implementation.

My department hosted events for all UK food and drink businesses in July, attended by Welsh exporters Wrexham Lager, Village Bakery and the Lobster Pot.

Coal tips are a devolved matter and it would be for the Welsh Government to produce any updated estimate of the cost of remediating coal tips in Wales. The Welsh Government has done a considerable amount of work mapping recorded coal tips and they believe that £118m, which they have received from the UK Government and is additional to the funding they have already committed to coal tip safety, is a sufficient amount of funding that can be used to protect and help communities living near coal tips.

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 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 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.

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

Ofcom, the independent regulator of telecommunications, is responsible for setting the rules on contract lengths for telecom services in the UK. Under Ofcom’s General Conditions, providers must offer at least one 12-month contract for each service, e.g. landline, broadband.

Consequently, Government has not made any such assessments on the provision of a two-month contract. We would expect that any assessment would need to include the practical and financial implications of such short contracts for the operators as well as potential clients.

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.

The Government’s project on the future of TV distribution is seeking to understand how people receive their television now and in the next decade. As part of this process, a wide range of views are being sought. Membership of the Stakeholder Forum includes a range of broadcasters active in Wales, including the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, the BBC and ITV. The forum also benefits from the perspectives of a number of groups representing the interests of Welsh and UK-wide audiences, such as Voice of the Listener and Viewer, Digital Poverty Alliance and Silver Voices.

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.

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.

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 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 Government launched the third Government Review of State Pension age on 21 July.

This Review will consider a wide range of evidence including the latest ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy projections, findings from the Government Actuary on adult life in retirement, and an independent report led by Dr Suzy Morrissey, which will consider which facts are most relevant in setting State Pension age.

Statistics related to Universal Credit deductions are routinely published. The latest publication, published on 12 August 2025, is available here: Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 10 July 2025 - GOV.UK

The narrative Universal Credit deductions statistics, June 2024 to May 2025 - GOV.UK and supporting supplementary data tables provide a range of breakdowns including deduction amounts as a percentage of the standard allowance, in Table 2 of the supplementary tables and breakdowns by Local Authorities and Parliamentary Constituencies.

Statistics on households that have had their benefits capped is also routinely published. The latest publication is available here: Benefit Cap statistics - GOV.UK.

Data on UC households affected by the Benefit Cap that have deductions is not published.

The Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those residing in Supported and Temporary Accommodation and receiving their housing support through Housing Benefit. The department is considering the issue carefully in partnership with stakeholders.

As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.

The Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those residing in Supported and Temporary Accommodation and receiving their housing support through Housing Benefit. The department is considering the issue carefully in partnership with stakeholders.

As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.

There are no current plans to carry out such a review.

The new State Pension, for people reaching State Pension age from 6 April 2016 onwards, is based on an individual's own National Insurance record. In general, it is not possible, as it was under the old State Pension system, for a person to increase their State Pension or to qualify for a State Pension based on their late spouse or civil partner's National Insurance record, although there is some protection under the transitional arrangements for the new State Pension.

The new State Pension modernised the State Pension system, moving away from an out-of-date model in the past where many women depended on their husbands for their State Pension entitlement. The new State Pension is rooted in the contemporary world, with people’s entitlement determined by their own National Insurance record.

The change on inheritance was one of a number of reforms which need to be seen in the round. These include much greater recognition for periods when women are outside the labour market, caring for children. These reforms have resulted in much improved State Pension outcomes for women. Women reaching State Pension age in the year to December 2024 on average received 99.1% of the amount received by men, with equalisation expected shortly. Under the previous system, on average, women receive 86% of the amount received by men.