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 information he has received from the Israeli authorities about progress in prosecuting the perpetrators of the arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma in July 2015.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We are aware of reports that Israel’s Defence Minister said Israel knows that the Duma terror attack was committed by extremist Jews, but that legal investigations are stuck because of insufficient admissible evidence. We have called on the Israeli authorities to ensure that those responsible for this crime are brought swiftly to justice. Officials at our Embassy in Tel Aviv are closely following Israel's actions to introduce additional measures to combat settler violence.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of his Department's budget is spent on legal fees and damages.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Departmental Group spend on legal fees is captured in the Annual Report and Accounts for 2014-15. The Departmental Group spend on legal fees is separately identified under Legal Fees in Other Administration Costs, £61.159 million and Programme Costs £128,642 million totalling £189,801 million.
The majority of the Core Department’s spend on legal fees is captured as part of ‘Other’ spend under ‘Other Administration Costs’, ‘Programme Costs’ and in “Consultancy services”. The Annual Report and Accounts is available at:
It is intended that from the 2015-16 financial year, spend on legal fees for the core Department will be discussed separately in the accounts.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what plans the Government has for the future of the block grant to Wales.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
The Government is committed to delivering in full the St David's Day Agreement for Wales.
This includes a commitment to introduce a funding floor at the Spending Review to ensure for the first time that Wales has a funding framework that will stand the test of time.
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, what progress is being made on providing a system for mobile phone networks to share their transmissions.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The installation and sharing infrastructure to provide mobile phone coverage is a commercial decision for mobile network operators (MNOs). Some MNOs provide wholesale access to their networks to other mobile services providers called Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), such as Asda and TalkTalk. According to Ofcom’s 2014 Infrastructure Report there were 41 MVNOs in the UK as at June 2014.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it is his intention that Phase 2 of High Speed 2 will include a section of track linking the new line at High Leigh with the existing west coast main line at Wigan; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
We received over 10,000 responses to the HS2 Phase Two consultation and we are in the process of considering them. No decisions have been made about Phase Two in relation to the consultation. The Government will make an announcement on how it will take Phase Two forward later this year.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the inquest into the death of Clara Tully, if he will bring forward proposals to allow inquests on infants who die during labour.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Coroners must investigate all deaths which are sudden, unnatural, violent, or of unknown cause. This can include deaths of newborn babies such as in the tragic case of Clara Tully. Coroners cannot by law investigate cases in which a child has not lived independently of its mother, such as stillbirths. They can, however, open an investigation if there is any doubt over whether there was independent life, once they have received a report of the case. There are also hospital and medical investigations into stillbirths.
The Chief Coroner, HHJ Peter Thornton QC, is considering actions to improve consistency and good practice.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the benefit cost ratio of the High Speed 2 Wigan spur.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department has not estimated the case for the western leg of the Y-shaped route for High Speed 2 without the connection to the West Coast Main Line north of Manchester. However, preliminary analysis undertaken by HS2 Ltd suggested that this section of the line is likely to provide benefits of the order of £1.2 billion, revenue of about £600 million, and is likely to offer very high value for money.
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 recent assessment he has made of the likelihood of a two-state solution emerging in the Middle East.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
A negotiated two state solution is the best way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all.
We are working closely with international partners on how we can support a renewed process. We do not underestimate the challenges, but firmly believe that if both parties show leadership, peace is possible.
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, what recent steps he has taken to support community football teams.
Answered by Helen Grant
The Government supports community clubs in a number of ways, including through Sport England’s Inspired Facilities, Protected Playing Fields, and Flood Relief funds. We are also investing with the Premier League and the Football Association over £100 million to the Football Foundation’s Facilities Fund over the next three years to improving grassroots facilities at clubs across the country.
Asked by: David Mowat (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that schemes identified by the Independent Project Board as having excessive charges take effective and timely action in response and will be subject to sanctions if they do not do so.
Answered by Steve Webb
The recent audit of charges and benefits in legacy pension schemes was undertaken by an Independent Project Board, on which the Department for Work and Pensions was represented.
In their report, published on 17 December 2014, the Board made clear that action must be taken quickly to address high charges.
I have since met with the key providers to discuss their plans to ensure members receive value for money. Whilst the details of these discussions are confidential, a picture is emerging of industry action, with several providers outlining significant steps to address high charges. For example, preparations for the default fund charge cap which, subject to Parliamentary approval, will apply to schemes used for automatic enrolment from April, have already triggered a reduction in charges in many schemes. Moreover, some schemes with relatively higher charges are delivering valuable benefits, such as guaranteed investment returns, which may be better than anything available on the market today, and which it may be in members’ interests to keep.
Both the Government and the Financial Conduct Authority have powers to extend the charge cap to legacy schemes, if this is necessary to protect consumers.