Written questions by Davies.

Whether her Department intends to provide an in-person Pathways to Work public consultation event in Wales following the cancellation of the Cardiff event on 3 June 2025.

As part of our commitment to hear from members of the public directly, including disabled people and their representatives, we have now held a number of virtual and in person public consultation events, as per the advertised schedule on GOV.UK. Unfortunately, the Cardiff in person event (initially scheduled for 3 June) was postponed at the last minute due to the venue cancelling and no appropriate accessible alternative being available at such short notice. We are working with the Welsh Government to rearrange this event and have reached out to all registered participants directly, also offering a priority space on other virtual events. Additionally, a Wales-only virtual consultation event has now been arranged and scheduled for 26 June. Throughout the consultation we are committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of everything we do. We encourage members of the public to continue to respond to the consultation online, in writing and via email.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the cancellation of the in-person Pathways to Work public consultation event in Wales, scheduled for 3 June 2025, on stakeholders in Wales.

As part of our commitment to hear from members of the public directly, including disabled people and their representatives, we have now held a number of virtual and in person public consultation events, as per the advertised schedule on GOV.UK. Unfortunately, the Cardiff in person event (initially scheduled for 3 June) was postponed at the last minute due to the venue cancelling and no appropriate accessible alternative being available at such short notice. We are working with the Welsh Government to rearrange this event and have reached out to all registered participants directly, also offering a priority space on other virtual events. Additionally, a Wales-only virtual consultation event has now been arranged and scheduled for 26 June. Throughout the consultation we are committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of everything we do. We encourage members of the public to continue to respond to the consultation online, in writing and via email.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Bus Services (No.2) Bill [Lords] on Wales.

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.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of utility social tariffs for people (a) on low income and (b) with disabilities that do not receive (i) Universal Credit and (ii) PIP.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is committed to tackling poverty and discusses access to social tariffs regularly with her Cabinet colleagues as part of her work to address poverty. This includes through her role as co-chair of the Child Poverty Taskforce.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report by the University of Manchester entitled Rattling the supply chains: creating a more sustainable way to do business, published on 22 April 2025.

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.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a separate criminal offence of desecration of a corpse.

The Government understands the concerns of bereaved families who are pressing for a review of the legislative framework around the desecration of corpses. While there is no specific offence of desecrating a corpse in England and Wales, other related offences can apply, such as preventing the lawful burial of a body. When the concealment or desecration of a body is linked to a homicide (to avoid detection, for example), the current sentencing framework treats this as an aggravating factor, ensuring robust sentences. The Government recognises that desecration could include a range of behaviours and is keeping the law under review.The Government is also taking action to expand the offence of sexual penetration of a corpse under section 70 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The Crime and Policing Bill will replace this offence with a broader offence of sexual activity with a corpse. This will ensure that all intentional sexual touching of a corpse is criminal, not just penetration as is currently the case. Non-penetrative sexual touching will attract a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. The Bill will increase the maximum penalty for sexual penetration from 2 years’ imprisonment to 7 years.

How many visits has she made to working farms in Wales since the announcement of changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief on 30 October 2024.

Both the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and I meet regularly with farmers and farming unions to listen to their concerns regarding Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief.The Government is steadfastly committed to the farming sector – that is why we protected the farm budget at its current level, allocating £337m to the Welsh Government at the Autumn Budget. By negotiating a veterinary agreement with the EU to remove trade barriers and by announcing an extension of the Seasonal Worker visa route for five more years, the Government is supporting farmers to become more profitable.

How many meetings has she held with the (a) Farmers Union of Wales (b) National Farmers Union Cymru, (b) Country Land and Business Association Cymru, (c) Tenant Association Farmers Cymru (d) Countryside Alliance Wales and (e) Central Association for Agricultural Valuers since 30 October 2024.

The farming unions are a key partner for the Wales Office – the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and I are committed to working with them and maintaining an active dialogue. In November 2024, both the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and I met with the Farmers Union of Wales, National Farmers’ Union Cymru, Country Land and Business Association and the Tenant Farmers Association. I separately met with the National Farmers' Union Cymru again later that month. In January of this year, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State attended the National Farmers Union Cymru Council, and then had a meeting with the National Farmers Union Cymru in March. She will also be meeting with the Farmers Union of Wales at the end of this month. I want to reiterate that the Government’s commitment to the farming sector is steadfast – that is why we protected the farm budget at its current level, allocating £337 million to the Welsh Government at the Autumn Budget.

What recent discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on promoting the Welsh language in Patagonia.

I regularly meet with Welsh Government Ministers and the First Minister to discuss a wide range of matters, including the Welsh Language. Although the Welsh Language is a devolved matter, the UK Government has a role to play in supporting the Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 strategy. This is most notably through ensuring that S4C continues to thrive because of its vital role in ensuring the ongoing promotion and use of the Welsh language. A good example of collaboration between the UK Government and Welsh Governments on the Welsh Language is the Welsh Language Project (WLP), funded by the Welsh Government and administered by the British Council. This has been promoting and developing the Welsh Language in the Chubut region of Patagonia, Argentina since 1997, where each year two teachers from Wales spend a full academic year from March to December teaching in Patagonia. Teaching time is split between the three Welsh-Spanish bilingual primary schools, Coleg Camwy, a secondary school in Gaiman where Welsh is taught as a second language, and the Welsh for Adults Centres in the region. The project also funds a permanent Welsh Teaching Co-ordinator, based in Patagonia, and supports approximately 20 staff in the schools and adult learning centres to teach Welsh.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of pausing the creation of new Carer’s Allowance overpayment debts until the conclusion of the independent review.

Overpayments have caused significant anxiety for some people. It is important to take the time to review what happened independently, to establish what exactly what went wrong and assess how to put things right. We will await the findings of the independent review being conducted by Liz Sayce. The review is not a substitute for legal proceedings and the existence of the review does not prejudice any business-as-usual activity by DWP. We carefully balance our duty to the taxpayer to recover overpayments with safeguards in place to manage repayments fairly. Carers have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award. Support remains in place with DWP’s Debt Management Service available to speak to anyone who has had an overpayment about the terms of their repayment.

Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing mandatory independent press regulation.

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.

Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to support the effective delivery of the National Telecare Campaign.

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.

With reference to his Department's joint policy paper entitled Telecare National Action Plan: protecting telecare users through the digital phone switchover, published on 11 February 2025, if he will publish the (a) targets (b) key performance indicators (c) other relevant metrics used for (i) the Plan overall (ii) each headline outcome and (iii) each individual outcome.

We are currently in the process of agreeing targets and Key Performance Indicators for each of the actions included in the Telecare National Action Plan, working with action owners and wider stakeholders.The Telecare National Action Plan commits to providing updates every six months. We will comment on the progress against the actions in these updates. We will include relevant metrics, where the data and evidence are considered sufficiently robust.

With reference to her Department's Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, and report entitled Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms - Impacts, published on 26 March 2025, when she plans to publish an impact assessment of the effect of welfare reforms in Wales.

Information on the impacts of the “Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper” will be published in due course, with some information already published alongside the Spring Statement.Future publications will include some information on people in Wales affected. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

What recent discussions has she had with the Welsh Government regarding the Spending Review.

The Secretary of State and the wider ministerial team are in regular contact with Welsh Government counterparts and have ongoing, constructive discussions on our respective strategic priorities. There is also regular collaboration at senior official level through a number of fora, notably the Wales Rail Board.

What estimate she has made, using the same static microsimulation model as in the Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit impact assessment, of the number of additional (a) people and (b) children who will be in (i) relative and (ii) absolute poverty after housing costs in Wales in 2029-30 as a result of modelled changes to social security, compared to baseline projections.

The government's impact assessment regarding Health and Disability Reform is available at Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – ImpactsThese estimates have been made at Great Britain level. It is not possible to provide figures for Wales because the static microsimulation model uses survey data and sample sizes are not large enough to provide robust estimates.

Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the cessation of BBC Sounds coverage outside of the UK on the (a) Welsh, and (b) Scottish Gaelic speaking diaspora.

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.

Whether she has had discussions with the Welsh Government on the potential merits of opening a new railway station in St. Clears in Carmarthenshire.

Future provision of a station at St Clears is subject to ongoing discussion by the UK and Welsh governments within the Wales Rail Board as part of its consideration of future rail investment priorities for Wales.

What proportion of the population of (a) Wales, (b) England and (c) the UK received (i) PIP, (ii) Disability Living Allowance, (iii) Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity and (iv) attendance allowance in the most recent period for which data is available.

Table 1 below contains the proportion of the population of England and Wales receiving Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) and Attendance Allowance (AA). Table 1: The percentage of the population of England and Wales receiving the different disability benefits EnglandWalesPIP5%8%DLA2%2%LCWRA2%3%AA2%3% The Department for Work and Pensions only administers PIP in England and Wales and is therefore unable to provide figures for the UK. In Scotland, Adult Disability Payment (ADP) has replaced PIP from summer 2022 and in Northern Ireland, PIP is administered by the Department for Communities.

What proportion of PIP recipients in (a) Wales, (b) England and (c) the UK live in post-industrial areas.

Data on the proportion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) recipients in each region broken down by areas can be found on Stat-Xplore. There is no official definition of post-industrial areas for use in official statistics. This recent article published by the House of Lords Library references academic research which has produced a working definition of former industrial areas, which may be of use. The PIP recipients in (a) Wales and (b) England can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. Figures for England and Wales can be broken down by Census Output Area 2011 to the Local Authority level using the categories under ‘DWP policy ownership’ within the ‘National - Regional - LA – OAs' variable. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user, and if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required. The Department for Work and Pensions only administers PIP in England and Wales and is therefore unable to provide figures for (c) the UK. In Scotland, Adult Disability Payment (ADP) has replaced PIP from summer 2022 and in Northern Ireland, PIP is administered by the Department for Communities.