This Government is supporting Tata Steel with £500 million towards building an electric arc furnace, securing the future of steelmaking at Port Talbot. This will protect 5,000 steel jobs and thousands more in the supply chain. The Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel’s decarbonisation transition, backed by a £100 million fund. Of that funding, £80 million is provided by the UK Government and £20 million will be provided by Tata.

To address the potential impact on the supply chain, I have formed a dedicated Supply Chain Sub-Group within the structure of the Transition Board. This group consists of representatives from UK Government, Welsh Government, local government, and Tata Steel UK. This group is actively mapping affected supply chains and developing targeted interventions to specifically support impacted businesses.

The Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel’s decarbonisation transition, backed by a £100 million fund. Of that funding, £80 million is provided by the UK Government and £20 million will be provided by Tata.

The Transition Board commissioned the development of a Local Economic Action Plan to assess the economic impact in South Wales, as well as provide the Transition Board with advice on how to support and grow the local economy.

At the Fifth Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board meeting, the Board endorsed the Local Economic Action Plan and its use as a broad roadmap to help guide the Board when recommending how the £100 million fund should be used to support those affected. The Board agreed that a summary of the Local Economic Action Plan should be published in due course.

The government takes enforcement of the minimum wage seriously. We take robust action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. Publicly naming employers who do not comply with the rules is an important part of enforcement.

Table 1: Employers named as being non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in Wales, 2019/20 to 2023/24. No rounds of the Naming Scheme took place in 2019/20 and 2022/23.

The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it.

HMRC continues to crack down on employers who ignore the law, ensuring that workers receive the wages they are entitled to.

Data on the number of closed investigations in Wales is published routinely by financial years.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/627cbe7ed3bf7f0536700ed2/nlw-nmw-enforcement-compliance-statistics.xlsx

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/643566dc89f19f000c3cfb1c/supplementary_data_for_enforcement_and_compliance_report.xlsx

All businesses – irrespective of their size or business sector – are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. The government is clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it and takes robust enforcement action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. HMRC enforces minimum wage regulations on behalf of DBT.

Table 1: National Minimum Wage arrears, workers identified, and penalties issued from 2015/16 – 2021/22. Statistics for 2022/23 have not been published yet.

All businesses – irrespective of their size or business sector – are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. The government is clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it and takes robust enforcement action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. HMRC enforces minimum wage regulations on behalf of DBT. Regional data for Wales has been provided in Table 1.

Table 1: National Minimum Wage arrears, workers identified, and penalties issued in Wales, 2019/20 to 2021/22.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency carried out an open competition for the contract to provide a counter service for International Driving Permits (IDPs), in line with the Public Contract Regulations 2015. PayPoint was awarded the contract.

The new contract provides the option for selected Paypoint outlets to issue IDPs. These selected PayPoint outlets provide the geographical coverage to ensure that at least 90% of the population are within ten miles of an IDP issuing outlet within the UK. The PayPoint service started on 1 April 2024.

The correspondence from the hon. Member for Cardiff Central was responded to on 26th April 2024.

HMRC publish R&D statistics annually, the latest publication can be found on Gov.uk at Research and Development Tax Credits Statistics: September 2023.

HMRC publish R&D statistics annually, the latest publication can be found on Gov.uk at Research and Development Tax Credits Statistics: September 2023.

HMRC publish R&D statistics annually, the latest publication can be found on Gov.uk at Research and Development Tax Credits Statistics: September 2023.

As per paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code, it is not possible to disclose whether Law Officers have or have not provided advice on such matters. Paragraph 2.13 states: “The fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised, and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority”.

The Wales Office does not hold data on average levels of staff attendance for UK Government departments and agencies, and other public bodies, based in the UK Government hub in Ty William Morgan, Cardiff.

As part of the government’s plan to grow the economy through continued investment in local transport we have committed to explore options for a new station at St Athan. We are currently working with Network Rail, Transport for Wales, and the Vale of Glamorgan Council to define the scope of business case development required and the associated costs.

Tacking cyber crime is at the heart of the Government’s National Cyber Strategy 2022-25, which is supported by £2.6 billion of investment through the National Cyber Fund.

Key to delivery is ensuring that local policing has the resources needed to deal with the cyber threats we face. In 2023/24, the Home Office is receiving £18 million from the National Cyber Fund to provide a range of capabilities and resource to tackle and respond to cyber crime. This funding is supplemented by a further £16 million of Home Office funding through the Police Settlement Programme.

This funding continues to build law enforcement capabilities at the national, regional, and local levels to ensure they have the capacity and expertise to deal with the perpetrators and victims of cyber crime. We directly fund a specialist Cyber Crime Unit at South Wales Police, and more specialist teams at the TARIAN Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU). This ROCU team is integral to our response to high-harm, high-impact crimes like cyber extortion, and is a multi-disciplinary team of police officers and police staff seconded from the three forces of South Wales, Gwent and Dyfed-Powys.

TARIAN ROCU works closely with South Wales Police Cyber Crime Unit and work to intervene if people are deemed at risk of becoming involved in cyber offending. This includes working with young and vulnerable individuals offering other intervention and diversion opportunities to young people outside of cyber education, such as life skills, and job interview skills. South Wales Police Cyber Crime Unit engage with all local authorities within the area to ensure effective delivery.

Businesses and organisations based in Wales work closely with ROCUs across the private and public sectors, and at community level. Additionally working collaboratively with the Welsh Government to support the offer of funding to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) for Cyber Essential training, which is a government backed scheme that helps protect organisations against a range of cyber attacks.

We have also rolled out Regional Cyber Resilience Centres in Wales and in each of the other nine policing regions. The Centres are a collaboration between the police, public, private sector and academic partners to provide cyber security advice to SME’s so that they can protect themselves better in a digital age. Details of the Cyber Resilience Centre for Wales can be found at www.wcrcentre.co.uk

All vulnerable victims of fraud and cyber crime in Wales receive contact and PROTECT advice from law enforcement, specifically aimed at helping them to protect themselves in future from revictimization.

In May 2023, the Government published the Fraud Strategy which set out a national response to address the threat of fraud. This includes steps to block fraud, improve the law enforcement response and empower victims.

Through the Online Safety Act and the Online Fraud Charter, we are taking robust action to tackle online fraud. We have invested £100m in law enforcement, including the launch of the new National Fraud Squad - with 400 investigators now in post - and the replacement of the current Action Fraud reporting service. This new service, which covers Wales, will improve support and reporting for victims and allow great prevention and disruption of fraud.

On 12th February 2024, we launched ‘Stop! Think Fraud’ our new national campaign against fraud, which encourages the public to be aware of potential fraud. Impactful adverts will be prominent across the UK, on billboards, radio, TV and social media. The campaign is expected to reach over 95% of population in Wales.

The Government is committed to tackling and preventing arson. We know the serious impact that arson can have on both individuals and the wider community.

We are committed to ensuring fire services have the resources they need to do their vital work and to keep the public safe from fires, including those caused by arson. Funding of the Fire Service in Wales is a devolved matter.

Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority.