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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to put the Government’s target for 50% of public procurement for food to be locally sourced on a statutory footing.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are committed to opening up public sector supply chains to a wider range of companies, particularly small and medium-sized (SME) businesses, including farmers. Increasing the diversity of supply will better support local economies, increase resilience, and encourage food producers to innovate. We are considering the policy options available to deliver these aims. Any future policies will be informed by the review of the provenance of food sourced by the public sector, announced recently.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many officials from his Department attended the World Economic Forum 2025.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

No Cabinet Office officials attended the World Economic Forum 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what purposes Defence Equipment and Support has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

Working with the Defence Science and Technology group, Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) has continued to develop approaches for using AI to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our work. DE&S has launched a number of secure services, which provide access to Large Language Models (these are AI systems capable of understanding and generating natural language by processing large amounts of text data) and has successfully employed the use of AI techniques to improve the exploitation of large, unstructured and semi-structured datasets. This has provided opportunities that were not previously viable or cost effective through traditional data processing practices. All assessments are kept under continuous review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure people receiving Universal Credit have adequate support for accessing employment (a) opportunities and (b) training in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

As announced in the recent Get Britain Working White Paper, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers advice. This new service will transform our ability to support people into work, help those on low pay to increase their earnings, and create a more flexible workforce for a fast changing, higher skilled jobs market. This transformation is expected to contribute to economic growth by addressing local skills gaps and providing tailored support to meet the needs of local labour markets.

In Lincolnshire, our Jobcentre Employer and Partnership Teams work with a range of employers and partners to enhance the skills and employment support available locally. An example of this includes working closely with South and East Lincolnshire Council on the commissioning of skills and employment support programmes using Shared Prosperity Funding.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many officials from her Department attended the World Economic Forum 2025.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

It is commonplace for key officials to travel with the Chancellor in order to support her at events and visits.

Five officials from HM Treasury accompanied the Chancellor to the 2025 World Economic Forum annual meeting.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to increase access to banking hubs in rural and remote communities.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities, high streets, and rural areas across the UK, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to delivering these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.

Alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking, and via the Post Office.

Some banks also provide their own community banking services via pop-ups in community centres and libraries or operate mobile banking vans to serve more remote areas, and the Government supports these initiatives.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what purposes the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

Cefas has used artificial intelligence for applying computer vision and machine learning tools to automate data collection processes. This technology enables us to analyse very large quantities of images and videos that would be impossible to achieve manually. Specific applications include:

• Analysing real-time images of zooplankton and phytoplankton to assess the state of the marine environment.
• Assessing drone-captured images of beaches to determine the scale and nature of plastic pollution.
• Supporting fisheries stock assessments through Remote Electronic Monitoring by analysing industry-captured images of catch.
• Analysing video footage to identify and count Sea Pen stocks to inform their management.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money was seized from gangs involved in smuggling people across the English Channel in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Seized and frozen assets relating to Organised Immigration Crime, Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery for the financial years requested is available. These would include much of the seized assets in relation to people smuggling across the Channel.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many officials from his Department attended the World Economic Forum 2025.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Five officials from the Department for Business and Trade attended the World Economic Forum 2025, accompanying two ministers. This is inclusive of one special advisor.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase access to work capability assessments in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We have interpreted your question as referring to the accessibility of Work Capability Assessments (used in supporting the department in the determination of the health element of Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and other specialist benefits) within the (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

We take our responsibility to ensure all individuals have access to our services, without disadvantage, very seriously. We have a range of provisions in place to ensure assessments are accessible to all individuals, in line with the standards under the Equality Act 2010. DWP meets legal accessibility requirements by ensuring individuals can access our services.

Consideration will be given to individuals who need a specific assessment channel due to their health condition or circumstances. At all stages of the claim, individuals are asked to advise us of any mobility restrictions. If the assessment supplier is made aware of mobility restrictions; they will consider booking a different assessment channel.

As part of the Functional Assessment Services process, the feasibility of a paper-based assessment will always be considered in the first instance. Where a paper-based review is not possible individuals will be invited to an assessment.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure sufficient recruitment of retained firefighters in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Whilst the Government is committed to ensuring fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work, it is individual fire and rescue authorities that are responsible for recruitment and decisions around deployment of resources.

With the local government finance settlement now agreed, standalone fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of £65.5m in 2025/26. Including the National Insurance Contribution Grant this is an increase of 3.6 per cent in cash terms compared to 2024/25.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what purposes the National Employment Savings Trust Corporation has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

Nest uses Signal AI to monitor media, and has taken part in Microsoft Copilot trials, investigating the role it can play in supporting efficiency and productivity.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to support the provision of sixth form education in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

All young people should have access to high quality education and training that meets their needs and provides them with opportunities to thrive. Over £7.5 billion of 16-19 programme funding will be invested during the 2024/25 academic year.

As announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, the government is providing an additional £300 million for further education in the 2025/26 financial year to ensure young people are developing the skills they need to succeed.

Local authorities have statutory duties to support young people into education and training, which includes securing sufficient suitable education and training provision. There are currently four secondary schools offering post-16 sixth form provision in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency. All four sixth-form provisions received sub-judgements of good in their latest published Ofsted inspections.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the number of off-grid properties in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire that will receive the Warm Homes local grant.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Warm Homes: Local Grant will deliver upgrades to low-income homes both on and off the gas grid. Local Authorities (LAs) in receipt of the Grant will choose which homes to prioritise for upgrades, based on local needs and resident interest.

LAs have submitted Expressions of Interest to participate in the Grant, which included non-binding indications of the proportion of off-gas grid properties to be treated. At the time of writing, LAs have not yet been allocated funding. Until allocations have been confirmed, we cannot estimate the number of off-gas grid properties that will benefit from the scheme.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Ministers and officials utilise AI for various purposes. This includes automating routine tasks (such as data entry and document processing), supporting research and development initiatives and analysing large datasets to identify trends and inform policy decisions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer diagnosis in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We have delivered two million extra appointments and are ensuring that people have the best possible experience during their care, including those in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

NHS England is providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at inherited high-risk to identify lesions before they develop into cancer. NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer, aiming to provide regular and timely evidence to cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, to increase the consistency of access to treatments and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients.

Additionally, the National Health Service is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type. This includes symptoms of pancreatic cancer.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a clawback mechanism into proposed changes to (a) agricultural property relief and (b) business property relief.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.
A “clawback” would mean inheritance tax would only be due if the relevant assets are sold within a specified time period after a death. Introducing this mechanism, as some have suggested, could mean some of the wealthiest estates pay less inheritance tax compared to the proposed reforms. The Government disagrees with suggestions that a clawback would raise the same revenue as the reforms being introduced from 6 April 2026; it would raise much less, which would mean raising taxes elsewhere or lowering public spending. It would also add complexity to the tax system and continue to attract the very wealthiest to tax plan since beneficiaries could hold onto the assets over the specified clawback period just to escape the tax.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the cost to the public purse was of expenditure by Ofgem on consulting services in each of the last three years.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Ofgem is an independent regulator and while DESNZ works closely Ofgem, it is directly accountable to Parliament for its performance.

Ofgem’s expenditure on other consultancy services for the past three years was:

• 2023-24: £18.8m
• 2022-23: £29.6m
• 2021-22: £23.4m

Ofgem attempts to minimise its reliance on external support by running targeted recruitment for the skills required to deliver its functions. Information on Ofgem’s expenditure is available in its annual reports (https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/about-us/ofgem-annual-reports).

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the number of women in Lincolnshire who have been financially impacted by the changes to increase their retirement age in line with men.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The number of people in Lincolnshire who have been financially impacted by the decision taken by the Conservative Government in the 1990’s to equalise men and women’s State Pension age has not been estimated.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to encourage local authorities to install hedgehog crossing signs on busy roads.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department authorised the use of the small wild animal sign in December 2023, giving local authorities permission to place the sign without reference to the Department. Prior to this none of these signs had been authorised. The Department does not hold information on how many signs are installed by local authorities.

There are no plans to encourage local authorities to install these signs, it is entirely a matter for local authorities to decide upon.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many hedgehog crossing signs have been installed on roads in England in the last three years.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department authorised the use of the small wild animal sign in December 2023, giving local authorities permission to place the sign without reference to the Department. Prior to this none of these signs had been authorised. The Department does not hold information on how many signs are installed by local authorities.

There are no plans to encourage local authorities to install these signs, it is entirely a matter for local authorities to decide upon.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) charged and (b) prosecuted with communications offences under the Online Safety Act 2023 by offence.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Online Safety Act introduced a number of communication offences, which were commenced in January 2024. These offences were introduced to criminalise cyberflashing, fake news intended to cause non-trivial harm and other online abuse.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on offenders prosecuted with communications offences under the Online Safety Act 2023. This is available in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

The number of prosecutions for communications offences can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Overall Volumes’ tab, and filtering the “HO offence code” drop down for:

• 13852 – Send false communication with intent to cause harm
• 00528 – Send communication threatening death or serious harm
• 00529 – Send electronic communication with flashing images with intent to harm an individual

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 32918 on Agriculture and Business: Inheritance Tax, how much revenue the Treasury has modelled a clawback mechanism for agricultural property relief and business property relief would raise if it was implemented (a) seven, (b) 10 and (c) 15 years after death.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office for Budget Responsibility has not certified costings for the revenue that would be raised by a clawback mechanism since it is not Government policy. However, a clawback mechanism would raise significantly less than the reforms announced by the Government at Autumn Budget 2024 for the reasons outlined in the previous answer.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the continued availability of in-person post office services in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government protects the sustainability of the branch network in South Holland and the Deepings and Lincolnshire, by providing funding on the basis that Post Office meets minimum access criteria to ensure that, across the country, 99% of the population live within three miles of their nearest Post Office. The Government works to ensure Post Office Limited maintains a minimum number of branches and a geographical spread of branches in line with the published access criteria. Along with the annual £50 million subsidy, we are providing a further £37.5 million this year to safeguard services in the uncommercial parts of the network.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help increase patients' survival rates following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In a bid to improve patients' survival rates following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the Government has committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. Following the depletion of the existing AED Fund, launched in September 2023, the Government approved a further £500,000 in August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the fund.

As part of the application process, the Department has set out requirements to ensure that resources are allocated to where there is the greatest need, for instance in remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest, including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas. 21 AEDs have been distributed, through the AED Fund, to the Lincoln postcode area, from LN1 to LN13, which includes Alford, Lincoln, Woodhall Spa, Louth, Mablethorpe, and Horncastle.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many closure orders were issued to retail outlets in England for the selling of illegal cigarettes in the last three years.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Where a retailer is found to be engaged in serious criminal behaviour, local authorities can apply to the courts for a closure order, which can close the business for up to three months. The number of closure orders issued against businesses, including those in which the sale of illicit cigarettes is a factor, is not held centrally by the Department. Local authorities and National Trading Standards collate information regarding the enforcement action taken against retailers in relation to illicit tobacco.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many illegal (a) cigarettes and (b) vapes have been seized from retail outlets in England in (i) 2022, (ii) 2023 and (ii) 2024.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

HM Revenue and Customs, Border Force, and Trading Standards are responsible for detaining and seizing illicit tobacco and vapes, including at ports and in-land from retailers. Information about seizures of illicit tobacco and vapes is collated in reports published by HM Revenue and Customs and National Trading Standards.

The latest figures show that 1.36 billion cigarettes, with a revenue value of £678.5 million, were seized by HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force in the United Kingdom in 2023/24, and 19.1 million cigarettes, worth £9.5 million, were seized by Trading Standards in England and Wales in 2023/24. 92.4 tonnes of hand-rolling tobacco, worth £41.9 million, was seized by HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force in the UK in 2023/24, and 5.2 tonnes of hand-rolling tobacco, worth over £2.3 million, was seized by Trading Standards in England and Wales in 2023/24.

1.2 million illicit vapes, worth £13.2 million, were seized inland by Trading Standards in England in 2023/24, and 1.1 million illicit vapes, worth £12.4 million, were detained at ports by Trading Standards in England, in the first half of 2024/25

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test instructors have left their position in each year since 2018.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) approves people to be driving instructors and motorcycle trainers.

DVSA publishes driving instructor and motorcycle instructor register data on GOV.UK. This includes data on the numbers of approved driving instructors (ADI) and shows the number of ADIs joining or leaving the register, by reason, per financial year.

The attached excel document shows how many ADIs left the ADI register for the financial year 2017/18 to the financial year to date, 2024/25. This includes data on ADIs whose licence lapsed, ADIs who resigned their licence, and ADIs who were removed from the register (Registrar's decision).

The same document also includes how many ADIs were added to the ADI register for the same period. This includes data on new ADI registrations, ADIs who renewed their licence (renewals), and ADIs who re-registered after a period of time off the register (Re-registration).

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many new driving test instructors were approved in each of the last three years.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) approves people to be driving instructors and motorcycle trainers.

DVSA publishes driving instructor and motorcycle instructor register data on GOV.UK. This includes data on the numbers of approved driving instructors (ADI) and shows the number of ADIs joining or leaving the register, by reason, per financial year.

The attached excel document shows how many ADIs left the ADI register for the financial year 2017/18 to the financial year to date, 2024/25. This includes data on ADIs whose licence lapsed, ADIs who resigned their licence, and ADIs who were removed from the register (Registrar's decision).

The same document also includes how many ADIs were added to the ADI register for the same period. This includes data on new ADI registrations, ADIs who renewed their licence (renewals), and ADIs who re-registered after a period of time off the register (Re-registration).

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to support small businesses impacted by a reduction in in-person banking services in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to constituents and businesses in Lincolnshire and across the UK and is committed to championing sufficient access for all. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.

FCA guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers fairly.

Alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques. The Government protects the Post Office network by setting minimum access criteria. These include ensuring that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a Post Office and 90% of the population within one mile.

To stimulate local economic growth the Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with rateable values below half a million pounds from 2026 – 2027 and later this year, the Government will publish a Small Business Strategy, setting out our vision for small businesses.

Taken together, these actions will support businesses in Lincolnshire and across the country to drive local economic growth.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support people with gambling addiction in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Those experiencing gambling-related harm in Lincolnshire can access specialist treatment through the NHS East Midlands Gambling Harms Service and a range of support through the National Gambling Support Network.

To improve and expand the services available to tackle gambling-related harm, the Government is introducing a statutory levy on gambling operators to improve and expand research, prevention and treatment of gambling harms. This will include ringfenced funding overseen by NHS England and appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales to commission the full treatment pathway, from referral and triage through to aftercare.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of food procured by his Department is sourced in the UK.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

To date the Government has not held information on where publicly procured food is sourced from.

Starting right away, for the first time ever, this government will review the food currently bought in the public sector to determine the standards that it is meeting, where it is bought from and look to introduce monitoring for transparency and accountability within those supply chains to ultimately get the best food for the consumer.

This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies as we want to help make it an equal playing field for British producers to bid into the £5 billion spent each year on public sector catering contracts.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of job centres on economic growth in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the Rt Hon. member to the answer I gave on 26 February to PQ 31769.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support disabled people into work in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. We want people to avoid poverty, and for this to happen we must ensure that disabled people and people with health conditions have the opportunity to work and save for as long as they wish and are able to.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.

Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs) in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.

In particular, Spalding Jobcentre in Lincolnshire has a proactive and dedicated DEA who has regular engagement with the Employment Advisors within the NHS Talking Therapies service and Individual Placement and Support in Secondary Care, often case-conferencing to focus on any specific cases or identify any additional support that can be offered. Spalding Jobcentre also support and liaise with Local Supported Employment (Showcase), a DWP funded programme led by Lincolnshire County Council, offering support to find and retain sustainable employment for participants.

It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the Joint DWP & DHSC Work and Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025.

Additionally, the JWHD has developed a digital information service for employers, continues to oversee the Disability Confident Scheme, and continues to increase access to Occupational Health.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the police grant for 2025-2026 on levels of crime in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is committed to ensuring that the police can tackle crime effectively.

Total funding to police forces will be up to £17.5 billion, an increase of up to £1.1 billion compared to the 2024-25 police funding settlement. This equates to a 6.6% cash increase, and 4.1% real terms increase in funding. This includes an additional £200 million to kickstart the first phase of delivering 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles.

Lincolnshire Police’s funding will be up to £173.2m in 2025-26, an increase of up to £9 million when compared to the 2024-25 police settlement. This includes an additional £1.7 million for neighbourhood policing.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of power cable thefts in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) England in each of the last three years.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

While there is no official estimate of the cost to the public purse of cable thefts in England and Wales, Network Rail believe it costs millions of pounds each year with the total cost to the economy taking into account the impact of freight delays to power stations and supermarkets, and on passengers who miss appointments or have their day ruined even higher.

This Government recognises the distress and disruption that such theft can cause to critical infrastructure.

The Government will continue to support the extensive work undertaken by the British Transport Police, in partnership with organisations such as Network Rail, to further improve the response to metal theft by disrupting those involved in this type of crime.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many officials from his Department attended the World Economic Forum 2025.

Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

No Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office officials attended the 2025 World Economic Forum as delegates. The Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization, United Nations and other International Organisations attended to accompany Ministers and members of his team based in Geneva provided support to the HMG delegation.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with local authorities to help maintain community libraries in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.

I understand that Lincolnshire County Council has a network of 49 static libraries of which 15 are in the statutory service, while the remaining 34 are community run and outside the statutory service. The statutory libraries are operated, on behalf of the Council, by Greenwich Leisure Limited. GLL also provides professional support and advice to the community run libraries, who also have access to the Lincolnshire wide catalogue and stock services.

The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-25.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support children's services in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

For the 2025/25 financial year, the government is providing Lincolnshire with £7.5 million of funding specifically for children’s services, made up of £4.3 million through the Children and Families Grant, and £3.2 million though the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant.

More broadly, the government announced major reforms which will support all local authority children’s services in the department’s policy statement ’Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive‘, published in November. This sets out the government’s approach to creating a children’s social care system that prioritises the needs of children and families, with a focus on prevention, high standards of care, and tackling systemic issues like profiteering in the care market and workforce instability.

As part of the delivery of Children’s Social Care reforms the department has been working closely with Lincolnshire as a 'Families First Pathfinder', funding the local authority to test the delivery of new ways of working.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what proportion of food procured by his Department is sourced in the UK.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department is a customer of the Government Property Agency (GPA). GPA is the landlord or building manager at the Department’s office occupations, where the space is often shared with several other tenant organisations. The Department buys catering services, or a share of, from GPA alongside all other building services. This information is therefore not held by the Department.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate the UK Statistics Authority has made of the number of small businesses in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in each of the last five years.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 3rd March is attached.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of school nursing services in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Local authorities receive funding to provide school nursing through the Public Health Grant. It is local authorities’ responsibility to commission school nursing around the needs of their respective populations according to their local health plan. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities provides both commissioning guidance and a service framework through the Healthy Child Programme. School nursing is a clinical service, and providers must be registered with the Care Quality Commission who assure quality through their inspection regime.

We will ensure we have the staff we need so that children and their families are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. This will take time, but we are committed to building a health service fit for the future with the workforce it needs.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what recent steps she has taken to help ensure the effective prosecution of wildlife crime in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

This Government is committed to working with the police and other partners to address the blight of wildlife crime in Lincolnshire and across the country.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has fourteen Areas (regional teams) across England and Wales – the CPS East Midlands Area serves the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Nottinghamshire including the cities of Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester, and the county of Rutland.

More broadly, we have announced that the CPS will receive an additional £49m to support victims of crime and transform the services they provide to the public.

We are introducing tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, stronger neighbourhood policing, and robust laws to prevent farm theft and fly-tippers.

We are recruiting 13,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers across England and Wales.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council Wildlife and Rural Crime Strategy 2022-2025 provides a framework through which policing, and its partners, can work together to tackle the most prevalent threats and emerging issues which predominantly affect rural communities.

CPS prosecutors also work closely with local police officers and officers from the National Wildlife Crime Unit to tackle all types of rural crime.

The CPS also provides legal guidance on wildlife, rural, and heritage crime, which is available to all its prosecutors to assist them in dealing with these cases. It also provides specialist training to ensure that its prosecutors have the expert knowledge needed to prosecute these crimes.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she plans to take to improve road safety in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the 2025-2026 financial year.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government allocates Integrated Transport Block (ITB) funding to local authorities such as Lincolnshire County Council, which is used for a variety of local transport initiatives such as road safety improvements. ITB allocations for 2025/26 for Lincolnshire County Council and other authorities will be announced shortly. This will enable councils to decide how best to use the available funding; the Department does not get involved in local authority decision making of this sort.

On local highway maintenance funding, all local authority allocations for highway maintenance block capital funding in 2025/26, including for Lincolnshire County Council, were announced by the Secretary of State for Transport on 20 December 2024 and are published on Gov.uk. Lincolnshire County Council will be receiving an uplift of over £16.2 million compared to the current financial year, taking its total funding for the year to over £60 million if they meet the incentive element requirements, due to be published shortly.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, what assessment the Commission has made of the potential impact of the installation of heat pumps on the parliamentary estate on (a) noise and (b) electricity consumption.

Answered by Nick Smith

The number of heat pumps installed on the Parliamentary estate over the past three years is as follows:

2022: 10 heat pumps
2023: 41 heat pumps
2024: 18 heat pumps

Most of these heat pumps have been configured to provide cooling for comms rooms. A comms room (short for communications room) is a dedicated space within a building that houses critical networking and telecommunications equipment. Its primary purpose is to manage data exchange, connectivity, and communication infrastructure for an organisation. In Parliament we call these rooms Secondary Distribution Points (SDPs). Comms rooms are a common feature in most buildings with a reasonable level of IT infrastructure. Air conditioning (provided by a heat pump system) is often used to maintain stable temperatures to prevent overheating and malfunction of the IT equipment.

Where heat pumps are proposed on the Parliamentary estate the system design is interrogated to ensure that the noise generated is not excessive and suitable for the context in which it is located.

Like all other equipment, system components and machines on the estate, heat pumps consume electricity. The design of any proposed heat pump on the estate will be interrogated to confirm that the electrical supply proposed for the heat pump is suitable and can be met by the estate’s electrical infrastructure.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many heat pumps have been installed on the Parliamentary estate in each of the last three years.

Answered by Nick Smith

The number of heat pumps installed on the Parliamentary estate over the past three years is as follows:

2022: 10 heat pumps
2023: 41 heat pumps
2024: 18 heat pumps

Most of these heat pumps have been configured to provide cooling for comms rooms. A comms room (short for communications room) is a dedicated space within a building that houses critical networking and telecommunications equipment. Its primary purpose is to manage data exchange, connectivity, and communication infrastructure for an organisation. In Parliament we call these rooms Secondary Distribution Points (SDPs). Comms rooms are a common feature in most buildings with a reasonable level of IT infrastructure. Air conditioning (provided by a heat pump system) is often used to maintain stable temperatures to prevent overheating and malfunction of the IT equipment.

Where heat pumps are proposed on the Parliamentary estate the system design is interrogated to ensure that the noise generated is not excessive and suitable for the context in which it is located.

Like all other equipment, system components and machines on the estate, heat pumps consume electricity. The design of any proposed heat pump on the estate will be interrogated to confirm that the electrical supply proposed for the heat pump is suitable and can be met by the estate’s electrical infrastructure.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of food procured by his Department is sourced in the UK.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra does not hold information on where food procured by the department is sourced from. However, for the first time ever, as announced in January and starting right away, the Government will review food currently bought in the public sector and where it is bought from. This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies and help make it an equal playing field for British farmers to bid into the £5 billion spent each year on public sector catering contracts.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate he has made of the (a) amount and (b) proportion of the overseas aid budget that will be spent in the UK in each of the next three years.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Home Secretary is committed to ensuring that asylum costs fall and has already acted. The Government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog, reform the asylum accommodation system to end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review period and increase detention capacity to facilitate more asylum removals.

Whilst there will always be volatility in asylum forecasts, we expect these decisions to drive down overall in-donor refugee costs over the next Spending Review and the Home Office are well incentivised to deliver this.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the adequacy of waiting time for talking therapies in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Nationally, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England, to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also introduce access to a specialist mental health professional in every school and roll out Young Futures hubs in every community.

Despite the challenging fiscal environment, the Government has chosen to prioritise the funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes, demonstrating our commitment to addressing the root cause of mental health issues and providing support for people with severe mental illness to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work.

We have committed £26 million in capital investment to open new mental health crisis centres, reducing the pressure on busy emergency mental health and accident and emergency services, and ensuring that people have the support they need when they need it. Waiting times statistics for talking therapies in Lincolnshire are available on the mental health dashboard, at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/

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 cut ophthalmology waiting lists in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) England.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Too many people are waiting too long for National Health Service treatment, with their personal and professional lives being put on hold. The current national waiting list for ophthalmology stands at 589,508, with 66.8% of those having waited 18 weeks or less. We have committed to ensuring that 92% of all patients, across specialties, wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029. As a first step, we have delivered a reduction in the waiting list of 160,000 pathways and provided over two million extra appointments, across all specialities, including ophthalmology.

We are tackling waits nationally and in Lincolnshire. The Elective Reform Plan sets out actions to reform outpatient care which will significantly benefit ophthalmology, the largest outpatient specialty, with over 8.8 million outpatient attendances across 2023/24. We will improve the referral, triage, and management of patients between primary and secondary eyecare services to free up hospital appointments for those requiring specialist input. This includes delivering more care in the community.

At the main hospital trust in Lincolnshire, the current wait in ophthalmology for a first appointment is 18 weeks, with the wait to first treatment at 19 weeks. This can be found on the national My Planned Care Portal, which is available at the following link:

https://www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk/mids/united-lincs/specialty/?sname=Ophthalmology

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full time equivalent civil servants are employed to work on the asylum backlog.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The requested staffing data is published online: Immigration and protection data: Q3 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

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