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Written Question
Mull of Kintyre Crash Review
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the The Mull of Kintyre Review, HC 1348, published July 2011, what assessment he has made of the implications of that review on similar cases that occurred between 1983 and 2011.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Mull of Kintyre review was instrumental in the replacement of Boards of Inquiry with Service Inquiries. As the hon. Member will be aware, a Service Inquiry is an inquiry held under statute and is not permitted to apportion blame or find negligence, but rather seeks to identify where there are lessons to help prevent recurrence.

It is not possible to overturn aspects of Boards of Inquiry held in the past without full reinvestigation of the original incident, and it would not be benificial to re-open any such inquiries, where it is deemed there are no lessons to be identified for the Service, such as where aircraft are no longer in service for example.


Written Question
Air Force: Negligence
Monday 13th February 2023

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many aircrew were deemed negligent by reviewing officers despite contrary findings by the RAF Board of Inquiry between 1983 and 2011.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The information requested is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Although an incomplete collection of 550 Boards of Inquiry (from 2008 redesignated Service Inquiries) into RAF flying accidents from the period in question is held, there is no central document recording the outcomes.


Written Question
Community Diagnostic Centres
Tuesday 24th January 2023

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on creating new community diagnostic centres.

Answered by Will Quince

At present, there are 89 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) operational across the country, and these have delivered over 2.8 million additional tests since programme started reporting in July 2021. In December 2022, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, approved a further 20 locations for new CDCs across the country, which will help more people to easily access life-saving checks, tests and scans. The NHS has also delivered the first of its waiting time ambitions, with waits of two years or more for elective surgery virtually eliminated in July 2022.


Written Question
Financial Ombudsman Service: Standards
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to ensure the Financial Ombudsman Service deals promptly and fairly with complaints in respect of small financial advice businesses.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is clear that the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) should deal with all cases promptly and fairly. The rules on how the FOS should handle complaints state that ‘The ombudsman will attempt to resolve complaints at the earliest possible stage ’DISP 3.5 Resolution of complaints by the Ombudsman - FCA Handbook’. Inevitably some cases will be more complex than others and therefore take more time to resolves, however the FOS should deal with all cases in a timely manner.

The FOS is an independent non-governmental body. The Treasury is therefore not involved in the day-to-day operations of the FOS and the remit of the FOS is set out by the Financial Conduct Authority. Nevertheless, the Government believes that it is vitally important that the FOS should be accountable for its performance and the quality of its work. The FOS answers to a board of directors, appointed by the Financial Conduct Authority, and must make a report each year on the discharge of its functions which is required to be laid before Parliament. This ensures Parliament is able to scrutinise the efficiency, effectiveness and economy with which the FOS carries out its functions, including data concerning the time it takes for the FOS to deal with cases.

The FOS have been clear that bringing down waiting times is one of their main priorities for 2022/23 as outlined in their annual plan and budget. This includes ensuring cases are allocated more quickly and improving turnaround times by caseworkers. I am pleased to hear that the FOS are also investing in technological changes which they expect to bring down waiting times including further development of a digital portal and implementing additional intelligent automation capability.


Written Question
Paternity Leave
Thursday 22nd September 2022

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of reforming the provision of statutory paternity leave.

Answered by Dean Russell

Our Paternity Leave entitlement enables eligible employed fathers to take two weeks of paid leave within the first eight weeks following the birth or adoption placement. Eligible employed fathers also have other entitlements to balance work with childcare, including paid annual leave, unpaid parental leave and the right to request flexible working.

Shared Parental Leave allows eligible parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay in the first year.

As set out in our Manifesto, we are committed to making it easier for fathers to take Paternity Leave. In 2019 the Government consulted on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay. We are currently considering responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.


Written Question
Farmers: Government Assistance
Thursday 23rd June 2022

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help farmers with cashflow.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Input costs for fuel, feed and fertiliser are worryingly high. We are monitoring the situation closely. To ease cashflow concerns, in England we have announced bringing forward half of the Direct Payment to July from December. We have powers in the Agriculture Act to help sectors if necessary.

We have just announced £30 Million to help farmers add value to their products, and we have boosted Countryside Stewardship payment rates by an average of 30%. We will shortly launch the Sustainable Farming Incentive, for which farmers will receive quarterly payments.


Written Question
Food Supply
Friday 4th March 2022

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the National Food Strategy white paper; and whether that white paper will assess the impact of solar farm developments on agricultural land.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

We expect to publish the Government Food Strategy shortly. The Strategy will set out the Government's ambition and priorities for the food system, considering the evidence set out in Henry Dimbleby's independent review last year. The white paper will not include an assessment of the impacts of solar farm developments on agricultural land.


Written Question
Churches
Tuesday 26th October 2021

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question

To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what representations he has received from (a) lay parish members and (b) clergy on the Mission from (i) from Grantham and Stamford constituency and (ii) areas of England on the Mission in Revision Synod Paper (GS2222).

Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner

The consultation on GS2222 is ongoing, and closes on 31st October 2021. A response to the consultation will be published in due course.

More information on the consultation can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/parish-reorganisation-and-church-property/review-mission-and-pastoral-measure-2011 and a paper with responses to frequency asked questions about GS2222 is available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/GS2222%20QA%20for%20website%20FAQ_01102021_0.pdf

There have been over 550 responses to the questionnaire and approximately 600 responses via email, which can be broken down into approximately two-thirds laity to one-third clergy. It is not possible to give a breakdown of responses by constituency and area.


Written Question
Family Courts
Friday 10th September 2021

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government has plans to consult on the use of expert reports in the family court system.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

The Government does not have any plans to consult on the use of expert reports in the family court system. There is already legislation in this area which emphasises the independence of experts and the key role of judicial discretion in determining when expert evidence should be put before the court.

Section 13 of the Children and Families Act 2014 makes provision in relation to the control of expert evidence, and of assessments, in children’s proceedings. This legislation is underpinned by detailed rules of court practice and procedure set out in the Family Procedure Rules 2010 and supporting Practice Directions. The Rules and Practice Directions are developed by the Family Procedure Rule Committee (FPRC), working in close conjunction with Government officials. The Committee is made up of judges and legal and lay practitioners all of whom are experts in family law.

The President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, established a working group to identify the scale of the problem of medical expert witness shortages in the family courts, the causes and possible solutions; the final report was published in October 2020. Recently, the Family Justice Council (FJC), a sub-group of the Family Justice Board (FJB), coordinated an event aimed at medical and allied health professions, family lawyers and members of the judiciary to encourage experts to offer their services in family justice system.

The Government, the President of the Family Division, the FJC and the FPRC therefore continue to consider issues in this area as they arise.


Written Question
Leasehold and Freehold: Service Charges
Monday 6th September 2021

Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his timeframe is for bringing forward legislative proposals to grant freeholders equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of service charges for communal areas.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. Where owners of freehold properties pay estate rentcharges it is not appropriate that these homeowners have limited rights to challenge these costs.

That is why the Government will give freeholders on private and mixed tenure estates equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of estate rentcharges. We will also consider the option of introducing a Right to Manage for residential freeholders once we have considered the Law Commission’s report and recommendations on changes to the Right to Manage for leaseholders.

In addition, when parliamentary time allows, we will remove the statutory right for owners of rentcharges to take possession or grant a lease of the property in the event of non-payment by the homeowner.

We have introduced legislation to set ground rents on newly created leases to zero in the current session. This will be the first part of major two-part legislation to implement leasehold and Commonhold reforms in this Parliament.