Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to help the Welsh Government ensure the Global Centre of Rail Excellence facility in South Wales is being supported to project completion.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department of Transport continues to engage closely with the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) in developing its proposal for world-class research, testing and certification site in South Wales. Department for Transport officials contribute through the cross-government GCRE steering group, which also includes representatives from the Department for Business and Trade and Welsh Government, to discuss options for Government support for the proposal and to ensure alignment with Government Industrial Strategy and other priorities.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to use rail industry procurement to support the Global Centre of Rail Excellence opportunity.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department of Transport continues to engage closely with the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) in developing its proposal for world-class research, testing and certification site in South Wales. Department for Transport officials contribute through the cross-government GCRE steering group, which also includes representatives from the Department for Business and Trade and Welsh Government, to discuss options for Government support for the proposal and to ensure alignment with Government Industrial Strategy and other priorities.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many companies owned by corporations with headquarters in the USA currently have manufacturing facilities in Wales.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Wales is a prime destination for foreign direct investment from the United States.
Many companies are operating in the manufacturing sector. A number of US-owned companies are operating in Wales’ world leading compound semiconductor cluster, including KLA and Vishay. Both companies have recently announced large investments in South Wales driven by our world-class research facilities and skilled workforce.
The information is not held centrally.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will have discussions with (a) Arts Council England and (b) Arts Council of Wales on a sustainable funding solution for the Welsh National Opera.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I have already held a series of productive meetings with the Wales Office, Welsh Government, Arts Council England, and Welsh National Opera to understand the issue in more detail and to see how, within the parameters of the arm’s length principle, DCMS can best help ensure a strong and secure future for the WNO.
The core point of agreement across all these meetings and across all partners was a recognition of the value of the Welsh National Opera and its work - both for the people of Wales, but also for people elsewhere in the UK. It was clear that all partners are keen to achieve a positive long-term future for the organisation, and are working towards that goal.
I am pleased to see additional funding of £755,000 has been allocated by the Arts Council to WNO.
I was also pleased that this series of meetings was able to reassure everyone that all partners wanted to see a positive future for Welsh National Opera, that the funding bodies across the border will work more collaboratively in future and that the new leadership at the WNO have a clear idea of how to progress. Everyone wants to sustain the WNO so that as many people as possible in Wales and England have a chance to enjoy world class opera close to home. Funding decisions are for the Welsh Arts Council and Arts Council England, but I am confident that the WNO is in a strong place to succeed.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to co-ordinate the response to the threat of H5N1 and H5N5 transmission to companion animals, cattle, domestic poultry, wild birds and humans.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) have stood up their well-established outbreak structures to control and eradicate disease, restore normal trade, and assist local communities’ recovery as set out in the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England, Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain and the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales. This includes working closely to share information and manage incidents with the Department for Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency and the Food Standards Agency.
In addition, international collaboration and knowledge exchange on the threat of avian influenza from across Government is coordinated by Defra and facilitated through discussions between the UK Chief Veterinary Officer and representatives from Defra policy teams and APHA’s avian influenza national and international reference laboratories, and their global counterparts through the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Quadripartite Organisations and allied projects. Including through the the joint World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Scientific Network on animal influenza OFFLU.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on funding for the Welsh National Opera.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism has held a series of very productive meetings with the Wales Office, Welsh Government, Arts Council England, and Welsh National Opera to understand the issue in more detail and to see how, within the parameters of the arm’s length principle, DCMS can best help ensure a strong and secure future for the WNO.
The core point of agreement across all these meetings and across all partners was a recognition of the value of the Welsh National Opera and its work - both for the people of Wales, but also for people elsewhere in the UK. It was clear that all partners are keen to achieve a positive long-term future for the organisation, and are working towards that goal.
The Minister was pleased that this series of meetings was able to reassure everyone that all partners wanted to see a positive future for Welsh National Opera, that the funding bodies across the border will work more collaboratively in future and that the new leadership at the WNO have a clear idea of how to progress. Everyone wants to burnish and sustain the WNO so that as many people as possible in Wales and England have a chance to enjoy world class opera close to home. Funding decisions are for the Welsh Arts Council and Arts Council England, but I am confident that the WNO is in a strong place to succeed.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the prevalence of, and (2) regional disparities in (a) child stunting, and (b) malnutrition in the general population, in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England, the prevalence of childhood stunting was 1.5% for children aged four years olds in 2021/22, defined by having a height for age below minus two standard deviations from the median of the World Health Organisation (WHO) child growth standard. Regional data for England has not been published.
The Welsh Government has published data from its Child Measurement Programme on the proportion of children aged between four and five years old with low height, defined as height less than the second centile of the British 1990 (UK90) growth reference. The following table shows this data including breakdown by health boards:
Geography | Low height (%) |
Wales | 0.5 |
Betsi Cadwaladr UHB | 0.6 |
Powys THB | 0.8 |
Hywel Dda UHB | 0.5 |
Swansea Bay UHB | 0.7 |
Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB | 0.4 |
Cardiff and Vale UHB | 0.3 |
Aneurin Bevan UHB | 0.4 |
Source: Welsh Governmant Child Measurement Programme
Note: This is not directly comparable to the England data as the England data uses the WHO child growth standard to classify child height.
Data on stunting for children is not published for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The prevalence of malnutrition was 7.3% for children aged four years old in England in 2021/22, defined by having a weight for height greater than two or less than two standard deviations from the median of the WHO child growth standards. Regional data for England has not been published. Data on malnutrition for children is not published for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, whilst data on malnutrition for adults is not published for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many plant health inspection staff were employed at UK Border Control Posts in (a) England and (b) Wales as of 10 December 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has 162 plant health inspectors in post covering England and Wales.
This number includes all inspectors working at border control points (BCPs), inspection centres and control points. This number cannot be broken down to specify the number of inspectors specifically at BCPs because inspectors often cover multiple sites. The inspectors cover all work for the EU, and the rest of the world including work at ports and inland.
The number does not include new inspectors which APHA is currently onboarding or who are currently at the job offer stage of recruitment.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 4 November (HL1791), what plans they have to separate the categories of "Gypsy" and "Irish Traveller" in statistics in Government departments; and whether they plan to modify the Census to reflect this.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Baroness Whitaker
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
27 November 2024
Dear Baroness Whitaker,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 4 November (HL1791), what plans we have to separate the categories of "Gypsy" and "Irish Traveller" in statistics in Government departments; and whether we plan to modify the Census to reflect this (HL2732).
1. What plans we have to separate the categories of “Gypsy” and “Irish Traveller” in statistics in Government departments:
A category for ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ was added to the Census ethnic group question for the first time in 2011. Space constraints on the census questionnaire meant that separate categories for each group could not be included in the 2011 Census. Consultations with users of Census data revealed that although some users would prefer separate tick boxes, the majority of users of Census information considered the combined tick-box to be satisfactory. Other categories in the question also cover several ethnic groups, for example ‘African’ and ‘Indian’. Given the space constraints of the census questionnaire, the ethnic group question has always required a selection of categories that are few enough to be practical yet detailed enough to be useful for measuring real world racial inequalities.
The Census 2011 ethnicity questions were adjusted so they could be used in the 2021 censuses for England and Wales, and Northern Ireland; and the 2022 Census for Scotland. As part of this adjustment a Roma category was added in 2021. There was strong evidence of a different user need for population data on the Roma population when compared with data on the Gypsy or Irish Traveller population.
The ethnicity harmonised standard[1] we currently recommend to producers of official statistics is based on the 2011 Census questions across the UK. Development of this ethnicity standard is one of the priority topic areas for the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation team. The broad aim of our ethnicity harmonisation workplan[2] is to improve the inclusivity of the question for minority ethnic groups. This will involve testing possible improvements and changes to the question design and response categories. To date we have undertaken a range of research including desk research, engagement with people who use or collect ethnicity survey and administrative data, and engagement with the public. We have published two reports exploring user needs for a new standard, in March 2023[3] and July 2023[4]. We are also gathering information to understand how ethnicity response options are used by participants, including reviewing data from the ‘write in’ responses collected across a range of data sources, and requests received for new proposed ethnic group response categories for Census 2021[5].
Qualitative research into the lived experiences of Gypsies and Travellers in England and Wales, published in 2022[6], highlighted the circumstances and needs of Gypsies and Travellers relating to a range of different areas including health, education, employment and accommodation. The findings provided insights into the culture and identity of Gypsies and Travellers, and how these are changing over time, including decision-making processes for individuals disclosing their ethnicity, for example to employers or service providers, and anticipated and experienced discrimination linked to this.
Our work to update the ethnicity harmonised standard will bring together information from all these sources to evaluate possible improvements and changes to the question design. This work will include further engagement with the public, community groups, people involved in collecting and publishing administrative data, civil society organisations and other interested parties both within and outside government.
2. Whether we plan to modify the Census to reflect this:
Decisions regarding the future of population and migration statistics, including the census, will be taken by the Government over the next two years with advice from the UK Statistics Authority. As such, it is too early to comment on specific approaches as part of a potential future census. The Future Population and Migration Statistics programme has an ongoing programme of user needs engagement and carried out a consultation in 2023, which acknowledged the importance of collecting data on a variety of topics, including ethnicity.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[1]Ethnicity harmonised standard – Government Analysis Function
[2]Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team workplan 2024 – Government Analysis Function
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support Welsh National Opera.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I have held a series of very productive meetings with the Wales Office, Welsh Government, Arts Council England, and Welsh National Opera to understand the issue in more detail and to see how, within the parameters of the arm’s length principle, I can best help ensure a strong and secure future for the WNO.
The core point of commonality across all these meetings and across all partners was a recognition of the value of the Welsh National Opera and its work - for the people of England as well as for the people of Wales. It was clear that all partners are keen to achieve a positive long-term future for the organisation, and are working towards that goal.
I was pleased that this series of meetings was able to reassure everyone that all partners wanted to see a positive future for Welsh National Opera, that the funding bodies across the border will work more collaboratively in future and that the new leadership at the WNO have a clear idea of how to progress. Everyone wants to burnish and sustain the WNO so that as many people as possible in Wales and England have a chance to enjoy world class opera close to home. Funding decisions are for the Welsh Arts Council and Arts Council England, but I am confident that the WNO is in a strong place to succeed.