Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps his Department has taken to support workers on low incomes in Wales.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
Universal Credit is available for working households on low incomes. In 2026/27, most working-age benefits increased by 3.8 per cent in line with inflation, while the Universal Credit Act provided additional above-inflation rises to the basic rate. Together, this means that, from April 2026, a single person aged 25 or over is receiving around £295 more this year. The Government also introduced the Fair Repayment Rate, enabling around 1.2 million Universal Credit households to keep more of their award.
Universal Credit customers who are employed with earnings below the equivalent of working 18 hours per week at the National Living Wage receive regular support from a work coach to help increase their earnings.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support workers’ mental health in Wales.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
Employers play an important role in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their workforce. The Government provides a range of initiatives to support employers and employees, including those who experience mental health conditions in the workplace.
The Disability Confident scheme operates across the UK, including in Wales, and supports employers to recruit, retain and develop disabled people and people with long-term health conditions. The scheme aims to increase employer confidence, awareness and understanding of disability in the workplace and to encourage more inclusive employment practices.
Well over 1,000 employers registered with Disability Confident are based in Wales. A list of employers participating in the scheme, including their membership level, is published monthly on GOV.UK.
The Access to Work grant provides personalised support and workplace assessments, travel to work assistance, support workers, and specialist aids and equipment. Access to Work also includes the Mental Health Support Service which can provide up to nine months of non-clinical support for people who need additional help with their wellbeing whilst in employment.
The Government also offers tailored guidance to employers on supporting disabled people and people with health conditions in the workplace, through its Support with Employee Health and Disability service. This includes guidance on disclosure and having conversations about health and disability, plus guidance on legal obligations and making reasonable adjustments.
More broadly, the Department is also working to improve understanding and inclusion of neurodivergent people in the workplace. While neurodivergence is not in itself a mental health condition, neurodivergence often overlaps with other conditions, including mental health challenges, and understanding these overlaps is important for providing effective support, including in the workplace. In 2025, DWP established an independent advisory panel of academics with expertise and lived experience of neurodiversity to consider these issues and advise on improving neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. The panel’s findings, alongside the Department’s response, were published on 2 October 2026 and we continue to work with employers and stakeholders to understand how the report's recommendations can be translated into practical action that improves recruitment, retention and progression for neurodivergent people in the workplace.
Keep Britain Working is working with employers across the UK, including the devolved nations, to improve support for workers with mental health conditions. We meet regularly with Welsh Government officials to explore how the Keep Britain Working agenda can join up with Welsh programmes and services in support of healthy workplaces in Wales.
Through its Vanguard Phase, the programme is testing and refining approaches that help people with long-term mental health conditions stay in and thrive in work.
Keep Britain Working is also developing an employer-facing standard with the British Standards Institution and exploring Workplace Health Provision to provide practical work and health support and advice for employers.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what arrangements are in place for voluntary sector providers and people with lived experience of gambling harm to inform the work of the Gambling Levy Programme Board and Gambling Levy Delivery Group.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Gambling Levy Programme Board provides oversight of the levy system, while the Gambling Levy Delivery Group brings together research, prevention and treatment commissioners at a working level. Terms of Reference for both forums have been published on gov.uk. The Government recognises the importance of embedding voluntary sector expertise and lived experience of gambling harm into the governance of the statutory levy and it is important that this inclusion is meaningful and appropriate. Commissioners under the levy are therefore developing their own models for engagement with the lived experience community and the wider sector to allow for the most meaningful contribution. DCMS is also actively considering how we can ensure representatives from the sector can give feedback on the levy system as a whole.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department plans to publish its first annual report on statutory gambling levy finances and progress against levy objectives.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department plans to publish a report on the gambling levy by the end of the year.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking with devolved Governments to ensure that changes to gambling harm commissioning arrangements do not create gaps in referral pathways between England, Scotland and Wales.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Commissioners under the statutory gambling levy across Great Britain work collaboratively, including through the Gambling Levy Delivery Group, to support a coordinated approach and ensure that people experiencing gambling harms can access the support they need when and where they need it. As health is a devolved matter, England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for commissioning their own gambling harms treatment pathways under the levy. Where a person living in Scotland or Wales contacts a treatment service in England, they will be signposted to an appropriate service in their respective country.
NHS England has facilitated a £20 million grant funding scheme for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in 2026/27. This represents an increase in funding for these services compared with previous years and, alongside increased funding for regional National Health Service gambling services, has increased treatment system capacity.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people whose referrals to gambling harm treatment services have been disrupted by changes to commissioning arrangements since 1 April 2026.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Commissioners under the statutory gambling levy across Great Britain work collaboratively, including through the Gambling Levy Delivery Group, to support a coordinated approach and ensure that people experiencing gambling harms can access the support they need when and where they need it. As health is a devolved matter, England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for commissioning their own gambling harms treatment pathways under the levy. Where a person living in Scotland or Wales contacts a treatment service in England, they will be signposted to an appropriate service in their respective country.
NHS England has facilitated a £20 million grant funding scheme for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in 2026/27. This represents an increase in funding for these services compared with previous years and, alongside increased funding for regional National Health Service gambling services, has increased treatment system capacity.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure work provides a sufficient, secure and reliable income for workers in Wales.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
This Government is committed to raising living standards across every part of the UK. We are boosting productivity and regional growth by reforming the skills system, expanding apprenticeships, and delivering the Youth Guarantee so more people can access better-paid jobs.
We continue to raise pay through annual increases to the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW), in line with the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. On 1 April 2026, the NLW increased by 4.1% to £12.71 per hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over, while the NMW rose by 8.5% to £10.85 per hour. These increases provided a direct pay rise to around 140,000 workers in Wales.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether he has any plans to extend the remit of the Fair Work Agency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Fair Work Agency (FWA) was established on 7 April 2026 and is being implemented in phases.
Phase one brought enforcement together into a single body, established the Advisory Board, and introduced a unified set of enforcement and investigatory powers.
Over time, we will extend the Fair Work Agency’s remit to additional employment rights, starting with holiday pay.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had on supporting the creation of good-quality jobs in parts of Wales with high rates of economic inactivity.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
I have regular discussions on how to support the creation of good-quality jobs across Wales.
The UK Government is investing in thousands of good-quality jobs through £2.5 billion for Small Modular Reactors at Wylfa, supporting 3,000 jobs; AI Growth Zones in North and South Wales, expected to create more than 8,000 jobs; and Investment Zones in Wrexham and Flintshire and Cardiff and Newport, expected to create over 10,000 high-quality jobs and attract more than £1.5 billion in private investment. Our plan for rail is also expected to support 12,000 jobs across Wales, while improving access to employment opportunities.
In Caerphilly, UK Government support through the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund has helped unlock Norgine’s £23 million investment in its Hengoed facility, expected to create 44 new jobs.
Additionally, we are supporting people into work through the Economic Inactivity Trailblazer programme, with £20 million allocated to the Welsh Government over 2025-26 and 2026-27 to test new approaches that bring together employment, health and skills support.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what support is being provided to households in Wales to help with essential living costs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The UK Government is taking action to support households in Wales with essential living costs by boosting incomes and reducing household bills.
From April, we increased the Universal Credit Standard Allowance by over 6%, benefiting 320,000 households in Wales, increased the basic and new State Pension by 4.8%, benefiting 700,000 pensioners, and increased the National Minimum and Living Wages, benefiting up to 170,000 workers in Wales.
We have also cut VAT on household electricity bills from 5% to zero from 1 October 2026 until 31 March 2027, helping households across Wales with energy costs this winter.
We will continue to work with the Welsh Government to ensure households across Wales can access the support they need.