Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications have been issued in England and Wales for financial provision for the children of unmarried parents under schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 in each year since 2000.
Answered by Phillip Lee
A parent is entitled to apply for an order under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 regardless of marital status. Information on marital status is not collected in relation to Schedule 1 applications. Applications can also be made by a person who is a special guardian for the child or by a person with whom the child is living under a child arrangements order. The number of all applications issued under Schedule 1 over the period is set out in the table below.
YEAR | No. of Applications |
2000 | 556 |
2001 | 604 |
2002 | 585 |
2003 | 599 |
2004 | 675 |
2005 | 677 |
2006 | 637 |
2007 | 702 |
2008 | 615 |
2009 | 507 |
2010 | 529 |
2011 | 472 |
2012 | 504 |
2013 | 467 |
2014 | 588 |
2015 | 650 |
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the CPS is taking to improve the conviction rate for hate crimes involving disabled people.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The CPS treats all allegations of hate crime, including those involving disabled people, extremely seriously and continues to place priority on this work. Legal guidance on disability hate crime was refreshed in 2015 and a supporting training package was delivered to all CPS lawyers by January 2016. This equips prosecutors with up to date knowledge to inform their decision making and approach to building the strongest cases possible. In addition, a National Scrutiny Panel on disability is assisting with the development of further refinements to policy guidance on crimes against disabled people and the preparation of a joint CPS/Police/HMCTS statement concerning support to disabled victims of crime.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of residential addresses in the parish of Hatton are currently within reach of superfast broadband.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Department does not hold parish level data.
However, current estimates suggest that almost 85% of premises in the Warrington South constituency are subject to commercial rollout, and a further 9% of premises (4,615) now have coverage as a result of this Government's Superfast Broadband programme.
Based on DCMS modelled estimates and current delivery plans, 97.7% of premises in the Warrington South constituency will have access to superfast broadband by December 2017. Early gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, could help extend coverage further.
In addition, the Government's intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation will give people the legal right to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live, by the end of this Parliament. Our ambition is that this should be set at 10 Mbps.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the extent of Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories since the cessation of Operation Protective Edge.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has continued since the cessation of Operation Protective Edge. In August 2014, the Israeli Government expropriated over 1000 acres of Palestinian land near Bethlehem, the largest expropriation in 30 years. In September 2014, Israeli authorities approved 2610 units in Givat Hamatos. In 2015, according to Israeli Non-Government Office Peace Now, construction for 1800 previously-tendered housing units began in the settlements. New tenders for 1143 housing units were also published, 560 in the West Bank and 583 in East Jerusalem. 2016 has seen a number of concerning announcements, including: the extension of the Gush Etzion settlement to include the former church compound of Beit al Baraka; the declaration of 385 acres of land near Jericho as ‘state land’; and approval for a further 153 settlement units. We strongly urge the Israeli Government to reverse its policy over illegal settlements.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on reducing the proportion of the defence budget which is spent on legal fees.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
A fraction of one per cent of the defence budget is spent on legal fees, most of it necessary to protect the interests of the taxpayer in securing value for money or in protecting the operational freedom and reputation of the Armed Forces. We have work in hand to reduce opportunistic litigation which is harmful to Defence and diverts funds from the front line.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment Treasury and Revenue and Customs officials have made of the effect on multi-sports clubs of the changes to Community Amateur Sport Club status to impose a cap on non-member income; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The £100,000 cap for community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) scheme’s non-member trading and property income was assessed to be as generous as the scheme could allow without incurring State aid issues. CASCs benefit from generous tax and business rate reliefs. They should not be competing unfairly, in commercial terms, with private sports clubs or the hospitality sector who do not receive these reliefs. CASCs with high levels of non-member trading income may wish to consider setting up trading subsidiaries which are owned by the CASC, or reduce their income received from non-members and property to ensure they meet the income condition.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had on the effective stewardship of local government pension schemes.
Answered by Marcus Jones
My rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has regular discussions on matters within the full range of his responsibilities. We strongly believe that local government pension fund assets should be invested in a way that provides excellent value for money for taxpayers and scheme members alike.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he and officials in his Department have had with the government of Israel on the prevention of oil smuggling from wells under the control of Daesh; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We have briefed the Government of Israel on Coalition efforts to target and disrupt Daesh oil sales through military action and sanctions. Daesh oil sales are a complicated picture. It is known that individuals linked to the Assad regime have bought Daesh oil and there is some smuggling across borders in the region, but the majority of Daesh’s oil is refined and sold within the territory it controls. We have no evidence to suggest that Israel is buying oil from Daesh controlled oilfields.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many days the Crown Court sat in each court chamber at Warrington in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The information requested can be found in the table below.
Crown Court sittings at Warrington (days):
Period | Courtroom 1 | Courtroom 2 | County Court courtroom |
January to December 2013 | 132 | 120 | 2 |
January to December 2014 | 105 | 182 | 1 |
January to September 2015 | 87 | 104 | 4 |
There are two dedicated Crown courtrooms in Warrington Combined Court, which also houses the County Court. The final column therefore sets out the number of days sat in County Court accommodation when, exceptionally, the Crown courtrooms were unavailable.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to increase the number of simple, low risk investment products that are available to charitable organisations; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Development)
Charities can invest their funds in a wide range of investment products. Charity trustees should refer to the Charity Commission's guidance on investments, and should generally seek professional advice before investing.
There are some specific investment products available only to charities. Common Investment Funds and Common Deposit Funds are collective investment and deposit vehicles open to charities.
In addition, the government announced at Budget 2015 the introduction of a new Charity Authorised Investment Fund structure. This will bring new investment funds established for charitable purposes under FCA regulation, ensuring they receive the same regulatory oversight and protections as funds for retail investors.
The FCA is currently consulting on measures to implement the new fund structure. The proposals being consulted on include the registration of the fund as a charity, the role of advisory committees, and provisions on income distribution and capital allocation. The consultation will close on 7 December 2015.