Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on (a) UK’s trade deal with Australia and (b) safeguards for Welsh Lamb.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Wales Office ministers have regular discussions with departments across Whitehall on a range of matters, including the trade deal with Australia and safeguards for Welsh lamb. Leaving the EU has given us the ability to strike our own trade deals, creating new opportunities for UK businesses to trade internationally. The UK Government’s future trade agreements will bring further investments into Wales, with the mutual opening of markets. Trade deals mean more opportunities for businesses across the UK, including Wales.
The UK exported £438.1m worth of lamb to the world last year, and we want those numbers to grow. For sectors such as lamb, the volume of duty-free imports to the UK from Australia will be limited by Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ) and Product Specific Safeguards (PSS). TRQs will set a maximum level for tariff-free imports for up to 10 years, whilst PSSs will allow the UK to impose higher tariffs when imports exceed a certain threshold in years 10 to 15.
In addition, we also have a general bilateral safeguard mechanism that will provide a temporary safety net for industry, if it faces serious injury or threat from increased imports as a result of tariff elimination under the FTA.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the (a) delays at HM Passport Office and (b) impact of those delays on people in Wales.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
We have seen unprecedented demand following the return of unrestricted international travel, with 9.5 million passport applications forecasted for 2022, an increase of roughly 35% on pre-pandemic application numbers.
Nonetheless, 98.5% of UK applications were completed within the published processing time of ten weeks between March and May, with approximately 250,000 passport applications being processed each week.
To help meet increased demand, HM Passport Office have recruited 850 additional staff since April 2021, with a further 350 arriving during this summer. Passport applications from Wales may be handled at all Passport Office processing sites throughout the UK.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities on the levelling up funding for Wales relative to other parts of the UK.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
I have regular discussions with colleagues across Government on how local growth funding will benefit communities the length and breadth of Wales. Wales received £120 million in the first round of the Levelling Up Fund (over 7% of the total UK allocation), £46 million through the one-year UK Community Renewal Fund (23% of the total UK allocation) and £460,000 in the first round of the Community Ownership Fund (9% of the total UK allocation). For each of these funds Wales has received more than its 5% UK population share.
All of this is in addition to the £585 million Wales will receive through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (a 22.5% share of the total UK allocation).
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether the Government plans to provide additional support to the hospitality and tourism industry in Wales via the Welsh Government during the recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)
I have regular discussions with the Welsh Government on how best to reopen the hospitality and tourism sector in Wales to make the most of the summer season, whilst respecting social distancing. Helping the sector to reopen will allow the industry to start rebuilding.
Through the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the UK Government has supported over 400,000 jobs in Wales. Over £2.3bn in Barnett consequential funding has been allocated to date to the Welsh Government to support its response to the virus. This demonstrates the value to Wales of being part of the United Kingdom.
Using the scientific advice available, the UK Government has set out a clear plan on how we will rebuild the UK for a world with Covid-19 whilst respecting devolved decision-making. Subject to scientific advice, next month will see the partial reopening of some of the tourism and hospitality sector in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. I welcome the Welsh Government’s plans for a partial reopening of the sector in July. However, given its importance to the Welsh economy, with over 9.5% of the workforce directly employed in the visitor economy and over £6 billion in visitor spending in 2018, I would urge the Welsh Government to do more to ensure that Wales is not left behind the rest of the UK.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect of the UK's decision to leave the EU on apprenticeships in Wales.
Answered by Alun Cairns
Skills and apprenticeships in Wales are devolved to the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government’s apprenticeship programme is funded with support from the European Social Fund. Following the decision to leave the European Union, the Chancellor has provided guarantees for EU funding such that where the Welsh Government sign up to structural and investment fund projects under their current EU budget allocation prior to Brexit, the UK Government will ensure they are funded to meet these commitments.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will publish any representations he has received on the devolution of Air Passenger Duty.
Answered by Alun Cairns
The Government has reviewed options to support regional airports that might be affected by the devolution of Air Passenger Duty and received a number of representations in response to the discussion paper that was published as part of that review. HM Treasury published a summary of those responses here:
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what representations he has received on the potential effect of the revised provisions of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 on aggressive bailiff practices in Wales.
Answered by Alun Cairns
I have not had any such representations.
The Government is clear that aggressive enforcement action is not acceptable.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many apprenticeships he expects there to be in Wales in each of the next five years.
Answered by Alun Cairns
Skills policy is a devolved matter in Wales, and therefore it is up to the Welsh Government to decide what proportion of its Block Grant is allocated to funding apprenticeships and skills policy.
The UK Government is committed to creating 3 million apprenticeships across the UK by the end of this parliament, and to support and encourage businesses to take on apprenticeships has announced the apprenticeship levy. There has been a long standing commitment that Wales will get its fair share from this levy. Last month HM Treasury announced that £128m will be allocated to Wales in the first year alone.
The Welsh Government can now choose whether to implement similar arrangements to England – where the apprenticeship budget is forecast to more than double in cash terms between 2010-11 and 2019-20, and employers in England can claim back their levy simply by investing in apprenticeship training, or put in place their own alternative arrangements to help the number of apprenticeships in Wales grow over the next five years.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many meetings he had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer specifically to discuss Welsh infrastructure projects between July 2016 and the Autumn Statement 2016.
Answered by Alun Cairns
I regularly discuss Wales's infrastructure needs with the Chancellor and other Ministerial colleagues. At Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that the Government is prioritising high-value investment, particularly in infrastructure and innovation, as a means of driving economic growth and raising productivity. We are increasing the Welsh Government’s capital budget by £436m which will enable it to fund infrastructure investment for the benefit of all of the people of Wales.
Wales will also benefit directly from UK Government investment in Research & Development and Digital Infrastructure. This will support the development of the Welsh economy and raise productivity.