We are not aware of any discussions which have taken place with the Welsh Government regarding the specifics of the executive co-operation arrangements of Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent councils. With Local Government being devolved, this would be a matter for Welsh Government to consider. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is continuing to work with the Welsh Government and local authorities in Wales to deliver a range of funded programmes to support communities and local growth, including through the Pride in Place Programme and Local Growth Fund.

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 Torfaen. A typical household in Wales has received almost £2000 in UK Government support to help with the cost of living. This includes over 223,000 payments delivered in Torfaen through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. During the Covid-19 pandemic over 13,000 jobs were supported through the furlough scheme, over £24 million was claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and over £45 million was given to businesses through government-backed business loans. The UK Government has also supported innovation within Torfaen with around £8.4 million awarded by Innovate UK since April 2019.

In addition, Torfaen County Borough Council, the local authority for the Torfaen constituency, is receiving over £24 million from the UK Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Torfaen is also receiving over £7 million from the Levelling Up Fund to deliver a cultural hub in Pontypool. Torfaen also benefits from the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, including £1.5 million invested in the Pontypool and New Inn park and ride facility.

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.

I refer the Rt hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19^th January to question number 104377.

The latest available data (to October 2019) on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims which have been disallowed (refused) at initial decision can be found in the PIP clearances table at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.

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

Universal Credit is now the main system of working age welfare support across the country. It is available in every Jobcentre, with a caseload of over 2.8 million claimants, growing every month, now able to access the additional support and flexibilities it offers.

Most people only move to Universal Credit because they have had a significant change in their circumstances which would previously have led them to make a new claim to a legacy benefit.

Data surrounding the number of households on Universal Credit in the parliamentary constituency of Torfaen and across Wales, along with payments issued in full and on time is published online and can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

The Department has committed to updating Parliament and stakeholders on progress surrounding our Move to Universal Credit pilot.

Universal Credit is now the main system of working age welfare support across the country. It is available in every Jobcentre, with a caseload of over 2.8 million claimants, growing every month, now able to access the additional support and flexibilities it offers.

Most people only move to Universal Credit because they have had a significant change in their circumstances which would previously have led them to make a new claim to a legacy benefit.

Data surrounding the number of households on Universal Credit in the parliamentary constituency of Torfaen and across Wales, along with payments issued in full and on time is published online and can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

The Department has committed to updating Parliament and stakeholders on progress surrounding our Move to Universal Credit pilot.

In 2018-19, 1,110 initial decisions following a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment were made for claimants in the Torfaen constituency. Of the 470 claimants where the initial decision was not to award PIP, the number of cases where the award was changed at Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) was 20. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.

Universal Credit is now the main system of working age welfare support across the country. It is available in every Jobcentre, with a caseload of over 2.7 million claimants, growing every month, now able to access the additional support and flexibilities it offers.

The latest available information on the number of people on Universal Credit for the parliamentary constituency of Torfaen is published and can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

The Home Office collects recorded crime data for shoplifting from all police forces in England and Wales. These data are published at country, police force area (PFA), and community service partnership (CSP) level.

For the latest year to December 2017, police recorded crime for shoplifting in the most relevant areas were:

Wales: 20,352

Gwent PFA: 3,994

Torfaen CSP: 692

National statistics on the number of children in relative low income are set out in the annual "Households Below Average Income" publication. The number and proportion of children in relative low income is not available at local authority or constituency level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.

Latest 3-year estimates for Wales of the proportion and number of children in low income are available in Table 4.16ts and Table 4.17ts in the file “4_children_timeseries_risk” from this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/599136/hbai-2015-2016-supporting-ods-files.zip

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

Table 1 below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsideration decisions where the award was changed by year since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituencies of Torfaen, Delyn and Jarrow.

Table 1 - Number of Mandatory Reconsiderations decisions where the award changed by financial year of decision.

Tables 2-4 below show the Number of appeals found in favour of appellant by financial year, data from Ministry of Justice.

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

¹ Social Security and Child Support data are attributed to the hearing venue nearest to the appellants’ home address. For appellants living in Jarrow appeals are attributed to the South Shields venue. For appellants identified as living in Torfaen Constituency this would be Langstone Tribunal venue. For appellants identified as living in Delyn Constituency this would be this would be either Prestatyn or Wrexham Tribunal Venues.

^2. Percentage Found in favour of Appellant this is based on the number found in favour as a percentage of the appeals cleared at hearing. In line with the published stats, data are not available at a level more-detailed than hearing venue.

³ By financial year - from April to March.

⁴ PIP replaced Disability Living Allowance for people aged 16 to 64 and rolled out from 8 April 2013. As such, appeal volumes in HM Courts & Tribunals Service in the Year 2013-2014 are low.

⁵ Indicates the population where the decision was in favour with 30 appeals or less

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

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) run a quarterly survey of domestic electricity and gas suppliers. This survey has coverage of around 85 per cent of the market. Data is supplied to BEIS, on numbers of customers by tariff, by region, and by payment type, but as this data is supplied in confidence, individual tariff or company data cannot be made publically available.

Aggregate statistics are produced and published as part of our quarterly energy prices (QEP) publication. In quarter 1 2017, we estimate 66 per cent of standard electricity and 65 per cent of gas customers were on variable tariffs. Our current methodology does not breakdown standard variable tariffs from other variable tariffs or by constituency. Data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-price-statistics

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Q7

.

Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen) (Lab):

My constituency of Torfaen has received substantial amounts of EU funding. The leave campaign in the referendum promised that that funding would continue even if we left the European Union. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that if my constituency loses a penny piece of its funding under his successor, that would be a gross betrayal?

It is the case that Wales as whole is a net beneficiary of EU funds. As I said throughout the campaign, if the vote was a no vote, I would want to do everything I could to make sure that we continued to help disadvantaged regions and our farmers. Obviously it is difficult for anyone to give guarantees, because we do not know exactly what will happen to our economy in the event of a leave vote, and our economy does face challenges. It will be a matter for my successor as we leave the EU to make good on what they said at the time.

The Home Office does not hold the requested data centrally. The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the police workforce at police force area level, but not at parliamentary constituency level.

Information on benefit expenditure for 2014/15 at a Parliamentary Constituency level is not currently available. 2014/15 data is planned for publication in September. Data for 2000/01 to 2013/14 is available via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2014

The information requested for those subject to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy in Torfaen, is not readily available and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.