Stephen Crabb: What steps he is taking to reduce reoffending.
Stephen Crabb: I am grateful to my right hon. and learned Friend for his answer. He may be aware that the Welsh Affairs Committee has recently heard from businesses such as Timpson and Williams Homes about the work being done to train and recruit prisoners in Wales. While there was a lot of praise for the New Futures Network, which brokers partnerships between employers and prisons, what is being done to...
Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to recruit armed forces personnel.
Stephen Crabb: The port of Milford Haven in my constituency has been right out in front, taking a lead in investing in decarbonisation and showing how it can boost the economy of Wales and reduce inequality. Yesterday, it was told that its bid to the Government’s floating offshore wind manufacturing investment scheme—its port funding scheme—had been rejected out of hand. Will my hon. Friend ask his...
Stephen Crabb: In recent months, the Welsh Affairs Committee has heard from young adults about their experiences with the benefits system. We have been struck by how this group of young people want to work and feel that they can work, but they have been written off as long-term sick and passed to the long-term sickness benefit roll by jobcentres. They feel incredibly let down. Does the Minister agree that...
Stephen Crabb: What recent progress his Department has made on improving water quality.
Stephen Crabb: I welcome the action that this Government are taking to improve water quality, but in Wales, which has some of the worst levels of sewage pollution, there are no legally binding targets for the water companies to reduce sewage or to upgrade their waste water treatment plants, and there is no overall reduction plan for sewage. There are not even any prosecutions, because the policy in Wales is...
Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to undertake a review of the criteria used to determine which industries are included in its carbon border adjustment mechanism proposals.
Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of providing relief from the emissions trading scheme to businesses that export products to external markets.
Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new measures to help support businesses participating in the emissions trading scheme.
Stephen Crabb: What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the spring Budget 2024 on businesses in Wales.
Stephen Crabb: Sadly, pubs and restaurants are closing at a faster rate in Wales than in any other part of the UK. The measures in the Budget that the Secretary of State mentioned will bring some relief, but does he agree that what is pushing many of these businesses to the wall right now is Welsh Labour’s slashing of business rates support?
Stephen Crabb: I thank all Members who participated this afternoon in what has been a very good debate. I am particularly grateful to fellow members of the Select Committee who joined me in the application to the Backbench Business Committee. We thank that Committee for granting the debate. We look forward to future St David’s Day debates that are perhaps longer and more expansive. I was particularly...
Stephen Crabb: I beg to move, That this House has considered Welsh affairs. It is good to see you back in the Chair for the annual debate on Welsh affairs, Mr Deputy Speaker. We call it the St David’s day debate, although this year it falls just prior to St David’s day. I wish all Members a very happy St David’s day for tomorrow—Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus. Let me start my remarks, however, on a slightly...
Stephen Crabb: The full title—
Stephen Crabb: Gower College Swansea—the hon. Lady has made her point with her usual force and eloquence. I think as well of the meeting we had with apprentices at the magnificent Airbus factory in Broughton. The Airbus apprenticeship scheme must be the most impressive, and probably the most competitively applied for apprenticeship, anywhere in the country. What we saw there was really impressive. I also...
Stephen Crabb: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I do not agree with the right hon. Lady. We have been taking evidence on exactly that issue and we have come across extremely professional people working in those public services and the prisons to ensure that the jagged edge of devolution, if you like, does not create disadvantages for Welsh prisoners. We will continue to look at that during our current inquiry....
Stephen Crabb: I thank my right hon. Friend for coming to the House and setting out a clear and principled statement. As he knows, our position is thoroughly in line with that of our partners—the ones who are involved in very serious and sensitive negotiations right now to end the fighting. Will he say a bit more about the concrete steps towards reform? He mentioned the Palestinian Authority and the...
Stephen Crabb: The hon. Lady is making some strong points, and she has done some excellent work on this issue. When one talks to people who have lived and are living with serious gambling addictions, what comes across very strongly is the way they alter their behaviours to avoid accountability and scrutiny, to the point of using multiple identities. That being the case, is the hon. Lady confident that these...