Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the trends in the level of consistency of NHS Continuing Healthcare assessments across (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Surrey Heath on 30 December 2025 to Question 99029.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people eligible for winter flu vaccinations received them in 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
For England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes provisional vaccine uptake data throughout the flu season. Weekly national level data for general practice (GP) patients is available from October to January, at the following link:
Monthly national and regional level data for GP patients, school-aged children, and frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) is available from October to January. The latest monthly data for the 2025 to 2026 season includes all vaccinations given between 1 September to 30 November 2025, and is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figures
Up to 4 January 2026, over 18 million people eligible for the national programme had been vaccinated so far this season.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with (1) Chrohn's and (2) Colitis in (a) South Holland and the Deepings and (b) Lincolnshire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Neither the Department nor NHS England hold data on the total number of people diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or colitis in South Holland and the Deepings or Lincolnshire in each of the last five years. However, the following table shows a count hospital admissions (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis Crohn's disease or colitis and where the patient was resident in Lincolnshire or South Holland and the Deepings, each year from 2020/21 to 2024/25:
Year | South Holland and Deepings | Lincolnshire | ||
Crohn’s | Colitis | Crohn’s | Colitis | |
2020/21 | 125 | 305 | 2,350 | 3,355 |
2021/22 | 175 | 410 | 2,765 | 4,295 |
2022/23 | 180 | 480 | 3,130 | 4,890 |
2023/24 | 165 | 465 | 3,390 | 5,275 |
2024/25 | 75 | 190 | 3,675 | 6,455 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, published by NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to regularly monitor and report on dental access for cleft and other priority groups.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that certain groups of patients may be more vulnerable to oral health problems, including patients with clefts.
NHS England commissions services for children, young people and adults with a cleft lip and/or palate. The patient pathway can start from pre-birth and continues into adulthood. Cleft services provide care through multi-disciplinary teams, and the comprehensive care pathway will include elements such as paediatric dentistry, restorative dentistry and orthodontics. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d07-cleft-lip.pdf
The Office of the Chief Dental Officer England is in ongoing discussions with members of the Cleft Llip and Palate Association to assess what measures can be taken to better understand and improve access to care for patients born with a cleft.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards across England.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure people with cleft receive appropriate dental care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that certain groups of patients may be more vulnerable to oral health problems, including patients with clefts.
NHS England commissions services for children, young people and adults with a cleft lip and/or palate. The patient pathway can start from pre-birth and continues into adulthood. Cleft services provide care through multi-disciplinary teams, and the comprehensive care pathway will include elements such as paediatric dentistry, restorative dentistry and orthodontics. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d07-cleft-lip.pdf
The Office of the Chief Dental Officer England is in ongoing discussions with members of the Cleft Llip and Palate Association to assess what measures can be taken to better understand and improve access to care for patients born with a cleft.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards across England.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who are employed to produce social media content from staff who are employed to work on broader communication, it is not possible to report exact figures in response to this question.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to reduce rates of cardiovascular disease in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire have implemented a number of programmes to reduce the rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including:
- One You Lincolnshire, which provides holistic support for adults to act on modifiable risk factors for CVD such as smoking cessation and weight management;
- targeted collaboration between pharmacies and general practices to provide home blood pressure monitors to key at-risk groups of the population; and
- continued support and promotion of the NHS Health Check in a range of community settings, including initiatives to provide translation support and one-to-one guidance, to help increase both the uptake and awareness of the programme.
The Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next 10 years. To accelerate progress on this ambition and tackle unwarranted variation across the country, we will publish a CVD modern service framework in 2026. The framework will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase access to pharmacies in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served by local pharmacies. These assessments must be kept under review. The Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board consulted on the draft PNA for 2025 to 2028 between 6 January and 8 March 2025 and was satisfied that there were no gaps in provision. No pharmacies have closed in the area since the analysis was undertaken.
Integrated care boards give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of civil servants in his Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of civil servants in the Department is published monthly on the GOV.UK website, and can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dhsc-workforce-management-information
As of the 31 October 2025, the total number of civil servants employed by the Department on a temporary contract was 54. This equates to 1.5% of civil servants employed by the Department. There were no civil servants employed in the department as a consultant.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support NHS staff working in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff is a top priority. Local employers across the NHS have arrangements in place for supporting staff, including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and a focus on healthy working environments. At a national level NHS staff have access to the SHOUT helpline for crisis support alongside the Practitioner Health service for more complex mental health and wellbeing support, including trauma and addiction.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out staff treatment hubs to ensure all staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health. To further support this ambition, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.