The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I both live in Wales and serve Welsh constituencies. We have a consistent presence in Wales as we conduct many visits, events and meetings in Wales on a regular basis.

Details of Ministerial visits and meetings are published on the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales’ website and in Quarterly Ministerial Transparency Returns. In addition, visits and meetings conducted in support of the Wales Office priorities are published in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales Annual Report and Accounts.

The UK Government has provided extensive support to Neath. A typical household in Wales has received almost £2000 in UK Government support to help with the cost of living. This includes over 205,000 payments delivered in Neath through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. During the Covid-19 pandemic around 10,000 jobs were supported through the furlough scheme, around £21 million was claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and around £34 million was given to businesses through government-backed business loans

The UK Government has also supported innovation within Neath with around £66,000 awarded by Innovate UK since April 2019. The UK Government has also provided £28 million towards the development of the Global Centre of Rail Excellence, a rail innovation facility which will benefit Neath. £15 million in UK Government funding has also been awarded to a group of universities to establish a research and innovation centre at GCRE.

In addition, Neath Port Talbot, the local authority for the Neath constituency, is receiving over £34 million from the UK Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Neath is also receiving over £17 million from the Levelling Up Fund to restore the historic estate in the Vale of Neath. The Neath constituency also benefits from the £235 million Swansea Bay City Deal, including £47.7 million invested in the Supporting Innovation and Low Carbon Growth (SILCG) programme.

This Government is investing in Wales like never before; over £790 million in four City and Regional Growth Deals covering the whole of Wales, £585 million for local authorities to invest through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including over £100 million for the Multiply adult numeracy programme, £330 million in capital investment through the Levelling Up Fund and £3.2 million to preserve community assets through the Community Ownership Fund. Wales will benefit from two Freeports backed by £52 million, the British Business Bank’s new £130m Regional Investment Fund, and from Project Gigabit which will enable hard to reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband.

Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Workplace pension participation rates are being transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into one in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.

The DWP does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates.

In the Neath constituency, since 2012, approximately 3,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 860 employers have met their duties.

Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf.

The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests

Digital connectivity is a clear priority for this Government. The Super Connected Cities Programme, which closed in 2015, installed WiFi in 1491 public buildings with a combined annual footfall of over 114 million, including in Wales. WiFi was also installed on 1422 public vehicles.

BDUK’s Superfast programme will provide at least 24 Megabits per second (Mbps) coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of this year. In Neath, superfast coverage is already above 95%.

As a result of the Government's landmark agreement with mobile operators in 2014, each mobile operator will deliver mobile coverage to 90% of the UK's landmass by the end of this year. Additionally O2 will deliver indoor 4G coverage to 95% of premises in Wales, also by the end of 2017.

The UK Government is committed to supporting our veterans through the Armed Forces Covenant. However, many of the services covered by the covenant, including the provision of and access to local sporting facilities, are devolved and therefore the responsibility of the Welsh Government.

The Home Secretary and I have regular discussions on a range of issues.

The Government has made clear that there should be no safe space online for terrorists and their supporters to radicalise, recruit, incite, or inspire. We are supporting community-based initiatives that challenge Daesh’s core communications and provide credible counter narratives.

The Prevent Programme is fundamentally about safeguarding and supporting vulnerable individuals to stop them becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It works best when delivered in partnership with communities. In the last year, we have considerably increased our programme of Prevent activity through our network of Prevent professionals.

The UK Government is keen to encourage any schemes which will increase the participation rates of children in sport and which may also help to tackle mental health issues. However, both of these matters are devolved and therefore the responsibility of the Welsh Government.

There is no single pathway to radicalisation for Islamist inspired, Far Right, or any other form of terrorism, and our radicalisation model applies to all forms of terrorism.

The introduction of the Prevent Duty has embedded consideration of the risk of radicalisation in the day-to-day work of frontline statutory partners. It covers schools, colleges, universities, health, local authorities, police and prisons.

142 community based projects were delivered in the UK in 2015/16 reaching over 42,000 participants. Over half of these projects were delivered in schools, aimed at increasing young people’s resilience to terrorist and extremist ideologies.

This Government is committed to LGBT equality throughout the United Kingdom and that is why we are proud to have introduced marriage for same sex couples in England and Wales. We recently announced the launch of a National LGBT Survey asking LGBT people about their experiences of accessing public services, and our intention to consult on reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

Equalities policy is a devolved matter so improving services and support for LGBT people locally would be the responsibility of the Welsh Government.

The tables below detail the number and proportion of public sector workers in Neath between 2004 and 2017, as reported in the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS).

Source: ONS, Annual Population Survey via nomisweb

Data is rounded to nearest 100

The preferred source of statistics for public sector employment is the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES), however, figures from this source are not available at constituency level, therefore the APS statistics are provided above. Individuals in the APS are classified according to their responses to the survey. Consequently, the classification of an individual’s sector may differ from how they would be classified in QPSES statistics.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html

The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsideration decisions and appeal decisions where the award was changed by year of each decision since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituencies of Cardiff Central, Swansea East, Ogmore, Wrexham and Neath

Number of Initial decisions and Mandatory Reconsiderations decisions where the award changed by year of decision.

# is used for instances where there are less than 5 cases to avoid the release of confidential data.

The poverty threshold as measured by the UK Government and the European Union is 60 per cent of median household income. Statistics are published as part of the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) Households below Average Income (HBAI) release. The HBAI statistics are not produced on a constituency basis.

Estimates of child poverty by constituency are published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), based on benefits and tax credits data. These are available for the years 2006-2014 on the constituency profiles website. Differences in methodology mean the HMRC estimates are not directly comparable with the headline national and regional poverty estimates published in DWP’s HBAI release.

Ofgem is considering options to protect vulnerable consumers and has yet to announce a formal proposal. Alongside this Ofgem has announced a package of measures to help consumers move away from poor value tariffs.

The ONS published experimental data on mid-2015 population estimates for Parliamentary constituencies in October 2016. The data shows that there were 6,500 18 to 25 year olds in Neath.

A breakdown of the constituency register by age is not available.

The Information requested, for those subject to the removal of spare room subsidy, is not readily available at constituency level (Neath); and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.