Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November to Question 93503 on Government Departments: Devolution, whether the Concordat on Statistics between the UK Government and devolved Administrations covers the sharing of details of the recipients of DWP benefits with the Welsh Government and Welsh Local Authorities.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Concordat on Statistics sets out a framework for statistical co-operation between the UK Government and devolved administrations in relation to the production of statistics for and within the UK, statistical standards and the statistics profession.
The Department for Work and Pensions engages with Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities on statistical data sharing initiatives where there is a legal power to do so and the appropriate data sharing governance (agreements) have been put in place.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with the devolved Administrations on data sharing arrangements between government Departments and those administrations.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Government aims to improve data sharing and comparability of data across different parts of the United Kingdom and therefore works closely with the UK Statistics Authority to promote efficient data sharing arrangements, in line with the Concordat on Statistics. The Concordat, which was signed in 2016 and refreshed in October 2021 sets out a framework for statistical co-operation between the UK Government and devolved administrations. The UK Statistics Authority regularly meets with the devolved administrations to uphold the Concordat, working together to improve data linking and sharing.
UK Government Departments and devolved administrations also engage on the National Data Strategy, which sets out our ambitions to transform the way data is collected, managed, used and shared across government and across the UK.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on potential merits of enabling English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish citizens to record their nationality as such when registering to vote.
Answered by Paul Scully
Eligibility to register to vote in most elections in the UK rests on several criteria, including nationality. As British nationality encapsulates all four nations in the UK there is no specific need to record further information for the purposes of electoral registration. As such, no discussions on this subject have taken place.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what representations he has received from the Welsh Government on reforming Energy Performance Certificates.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
We have not received representations from the Welsh Government on reforming Energy Performance Certificates at this time, although officials in my Department have engaged with officials from the Wales government in terms of identifying how we might make useful future amendments to the Regulations.