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 support farmers no longer able to apply for the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

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

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Following the announcement that Defra has closed SFI for the submission of new applications, outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to ban the use of DeepSeek by her Department.

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

The Government has a robust set of security policies in place to oversee how information is handled, within our buildings, on our IT, and by our staff.

We keep these policies under constant review to ensure they are applicable to new technologies.

The UK Government only uses corporately assured Generative AI tools to process HMG information. Everyone who works in government has a duty of confidentiality and a responsibility to safeguard any government information or data that they process, access or share, and all government departments are required to meet a range of mandatory security standards.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many properties received Farming Recovery Payments in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (i) 2023 and (ii) 2024.

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

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) can confirm that no payments were made to properties under the Farming Recovery payments in a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (i) 2023

RPA can confirm that 1889 payments were made to properties under the Farming Recovery payments in a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (ii) 2024.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for establishing Skills England on a statutory basis.

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

Skills England is already operational in shadow form and the government intends for it to be established as an executive agency soon. This model of arm’s length body provides a strong fit for Skills England as it can be operationalised quickly and provides independence, while ensuring sufficient proximity to the department, so that Skills England can inform decisions on skills policy and delivery.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cryptoassets were seized from criminals in the last year.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government does not currently publish the amount of cryptocurrency restrained/recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The Home office is reviewing plans to publish new statistics on Crypto assets as part of future bulletins on asset recovery in response to the new powers that came into effect in April 2024.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to tackle cryptocurrency fraud.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Fraud is the most common crime in the UK and the Government takes this issue very seriously. That is why we are committed to updating and expanding the UK fraud strategy to tackle the full range of threats. We are working with law enforcement and industry to reduce fraud and better protect the public and businesses from this devastating crime.

Further, the Financial Conduct Authority commenced enforcement of the cryptoassets financial promotion regime in October 2023. This requires firms to ensure that promotions for cryptoasset products and services are fair, clear and not misleading; meaning cryptoasset promotions are now held to the same standards financial services products with similar risk.

The Government is also proceeding to introduce a comprehensive UK financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets, and intends to bring forward legislation for this as soon as possible this year.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the amount of money lost by people in the UK to cryptocurrency fraud since 2019.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Financial Conduct Authority’s most recent consumer research publication provides indications of the levels of cryptoasset related fraud in the UK. This research is available online at: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/research-notes/cryptoasset-consumer-research-2024-wave-5.pdf.

The Government take these fraud risks very seriously, and that is why it is proceeding with proposals to introduce a comprehensive UK financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets.

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 care pathways for young people with ADHD in Lincolnshire.

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

It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the final report expected in the summer.

In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop an ADHD data improvement plan to inform future service planning. NHS England has also captured examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services and is using this information to support systems to tackle ADHD waiting lists and provide support to address people’s needs.

The Lincolnshire ICB advises that it has undertaken a clinical review of its ADHD and autism pathways to address increased demand for children and young people’s (CYP) neurodevelopment assessments. The ICB further advises that implementation of a number of the review’s recommendations has resulted in significantly reduced waiting times for CYP transitioning into adult services. The Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals Group has also invested in additional sleep support capacity as part of the post diagnostic support offer, and is developing proposals for increased specialist ADHD nursing capacity to be introduced in 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of abolishing NHS England on savings to the public purse.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The abolition of NHS England is expected to bring savings that would amount to hundreds of millions of pounds a year. While there will be some upfront costs, we are confident that the reform to wipe out duplication and drive a smaller centre, based in a single organisation, will generate significant savings in the long run allowing us to divert savings to the front line.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent blank guns being converted to weapons which can fire live rounds.

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

The Government keeps firearms legislation under close review to ensure that the law responds to threats to public safety posed by firearms including converted blank firing firearms.

Blank firing guns are, generally speaking, regarded as imitation firearms under firearms legislation. They are categorised by how the discharge, or vent, fumes or gases when fired: either at the top of the gun known as Top Venting Blank Firers, or from the front of the gun known as Forward Venting Blank Firers. In particular, realistic imitation firearms are subject to controls under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, while readily convertible imitation firearms, which are those blank firing firearms that can be converted to fire live ammunition without any special skill and using tools or equipment that are generally available are, by virtue of the Firearms Act 1982, controlled under the Firearms Act 1968.

In response to concern about specific types of Top Venting blank firing firearms being converted into lethal firearms and used in crime, the Government has worked closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead on illegal firearms, and it has taken action against specific types of Top Venting blank firing firearms. Following testing in 2024, these blank firing firearms had been found to be readily convertible and therefore contrary to firearms legislation. The specific features of these blank firing firearms also means they fall within the prohibited categories of firearms provided for by section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968. An amnesty was organised by the NPCC lead in which anyone in possession of the specific types of Top Venting blank firing firearms was able to hand them into a local police station. The amnesty started on 3 February 2025 and ran for four weeks.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of food procured by her Department is sourced in the UK.

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

As tenants in our offices, the management and procurement of food supplies is overseen by the Government Property Agency or the Landlord.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of exclusions from schools in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 academic years.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Information on suspensions and permanent exclusions is published at local authority level in the ‘Suspension and permanent exclusion in England’ statistics publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/suspensions-and-permanent-exclusions-in-england/2022-23.

The number and rates of suspensions and permanent exclusions in Lincolnshire for the 2022/23 academic year can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f3101754-5b43-45c4-f1c2-08dd5cc661f7.

The number and rates of suspensions and permanent exclusions in Lincolnshire for the autumn term 2023/24 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3293a161-d7dd-414d-0e59-08dd5ccbf23a. Data for the full 2023/24 academic year will be published in July 2025.

Suspensions and permanent exclusions data is also published at school level. This can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About School’ (GIAS) to identify Parliamentary constituency. GIAS currently reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes. GIAS is available at the following link: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria will be used to determine how the new growth and skills levy may be spent; and whether a criteria will be published.

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

This government’s first mission is to kickstart economic growth. We know that skills gaps are holding back business growth and that we need to support employers to invest in skills training. Our new levy-funded growth and skills offer will introduce greater flexibility to employers and learners in England, creating routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, aligned with the government’s industrial strategy.

The new training offer will include shorter duration apprenticeships. From August 2025, subject to the legislative timetable, the minimum duration of an apprenticeship will be reduced to eight months. This change means apprentices will be able to achieve occupational competence more quickly, where appropriate.

The department will also introduce foundation apprenticeships for young people, a work-based offer providing high-quality progression pathways into further work-based training and employment, including occupationally specific apprenticeships.

In response to feedback from employers and learners, the department has already introduced flexibilities for employers to the English and mathematics requirements for adult apprentices.

These are the first steps in expanding the apprenticeships offer into a wider levy-funded growth and skills offer that works better for employers, individuals and the wider economy. The government has established Skills England to form a coherent national picture of skills gaps across all sectors and to help shape the technical education system so that it is responsive to skills needs. This will include advising on priorities for the new growth and skills offer.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to support recycling (a) efforts and (b) infrastructure in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are improving recycling services across England through our upcoming Simpler Recycling reforms, which will ensure that across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school.

From 1 January 2025 the cost of managing household packaging when it becomes waste was transferred from taxpayers to producers placing that packaging material on the market. PackUK will make payments to local authorities (Approximately £1.4 billion across the UK) to cover the cost of the efficient and effective management of household packaging waste. In England, these payments will help local authorities to fund improvements to household recycling collections, enabling the consistent collection of all dry materials from every household. Additionally, through Simpler Recycling we have disbursed around £318 million of transitional funding to local authorities to support roll out of weekly food waste collections across England.

In February 2025, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) published a Recycling Infrastructure Capacity Analysis with anticipated waste arisings and associated infrastructure needs to 2035; this will support industry and decisions on investment in necessary infrastructure.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of food procured by her Department is sourced in the UK.

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

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 catering contracts.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve support for care leavers in rural areas.

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

The department knows that care leavers have some of the worst outcomes in society and we are committed to ensuring that all young people leaving care, irrespective of where they live, have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships, and are engaged in education, employment and training.

While many of the issues that care leavers face will be common to all young people leaving care, the department knows that those who live in rural areas can face additional challenges, such as fewer employment opportunities, limited public transport and increased risk of loneliness and isolation, which can make their transition to independence more difficult.

All local authorities are required to publish their ‘local offer’ for care leavers, which provides information about the statutory support that all care leavers are entitled to, and any discretionary services the local authority provides, to support care leavers in their transition to adulthood. Each local authority’s local offer should reflect the particular circumstances faced by its care leavers, including those that arise due to the fact that they live in a rural location.

The department is strengthening the local offer through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to drive forward our manifesto commitments on children’s social care. The Bill will provide ‘Staying close support’ across the country, including in rural areas, for care leavers up to the age of 25. Staying close will increase support for young people leaving residential care through move-on accommodation and ongoing support from a keyworker.

The Bill will also require each local authority to publish the arrangements it has in place to support and assist care leavers, particularly around accommodation and joint working between local authority care leaver and housing teams.

Local housing authorities owe various duties to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. In certain circumstances local housing authorities have a duty to secure settled accommodation for them, but this is only the case where, in addition to other criteria, the person is not found to have become homeless intentionally. Through the Bill, we are removing intentional homelessness decisions for eligible care leavers to further strengthen support for this vulnerable cohort.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has banned the use of DeepSeek.

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

The Government has a robust set of security policies in place to oversee how information is handled, within our buildings, on our IT, and by our staff.

We keep these policies under constant review to ensure they are applicable to new technologies.

The Government's Generative AI framework outlines that only corporately assured Generative AI tools should be used to process HMG information. Everyone who works in government has a duty of confidentiality and a responsibility to safeguard any government information or data that they process, access or share, and all government departments are required to meet a range of mandatory security standards.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has banned the use of DeepSeek.

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

The Ministry of Defence takes security very seriously in order to protect its personnel, information, and systems. We do not comment on specific details.

The Government has a robust set of security policies in place to oversee how information is handled, within our buildings, on our IT, and by our staff.

We keep these policies under constant review to ensure they are applicable to new technologies.

The AI Playbook for the UK Government outlines that only corporately assured Generative AI tools should be used to process HMG information. The Mobile Device Management policy mandates that any application downloaded onto Government devices must first be approved by security and technology teams. Everyone who works in Government has a duty of confidentiality and a responsibility to safeguard any Government information or data that they process, access or share, and all Government Departments are required to meet a range of mandatory security standards.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of school uniform costs on families in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

I refer the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings to the answer of 21 March 2025 to Question 38113.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 to require drivers to stop and report accidents involving cats.

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

There are no plans to amend section 170 of the Road Traffic Act to make it mandatory for drivers to report road collisions involving cats.

Although there is no obligation to report all collisions with animals on roads, Rule 286 of The Highway Code advises drivers to report any collisions involving an animal to the police, and if possible, they should make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals and advise them of the situation.

Since June 2024, all cats in England over 20 weeks of age must be microchipped and registered on a compliant database, unless exempt or free-living. This will make it easier for National Highways and local authorities to reunite cats with their keepers.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what criteria he used to appoint members of the Industrial Strategy Council.

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

Appointments to the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council were made through direct ministerial appointment by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Council’s membership includes a diverse group of the UK’s top business leaders, policy experts and trade union leaders. Members have been appointed in a personal capacity and the Council will help to ensure our Industrial Strategy is informed by a broad and high-quality evidence base, and a diverse range of perspectives.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses in South Holland and the Deepings constituency applied to use the Enterprise Investment Scheme in each of the last ten years.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The information cannot be provided as it could lead to a breach of taxpayer’s confidentiality.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Industrial Strategy Council has met.

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

The Industrial Strategy Advisory Council was launched on 17 December 2024 with their first official meeting. They met in person for a second time on 13 February. In addition the Council has held virtual check in meetings and a number of workstream meetings in smaller groups.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has banned the use of DeepSeek.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were fined under the clandestine entrant civil penalty scheme in each of the last ten years.

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

The table below shows the number of CECP penalties issued each year for the last 10 years, with the value of how much has been paid against those penalties.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was raised by fines from the clandestine entrant civil penalty scheme in the last ten years.

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

The table below shows the number of CECP penalties issued each year for the last 10 years, with the value of how much has been paid against those penalties.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to protect Christians from persecution in (a) Rwanda and (b) the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Protection of civilians, promotion of respect between different religious and non-religious groups, and human rights are priorities for the UK. The UK continues to work through UN bodies and other multilateral fora to promote and protect these rights. Recent attacks by IS-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) on Christian communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are alarming and we are deeply saddened by the loss of life. Ministers and senior officials including our Ambassador in Kinshasa regularly raise the importance of civilian protection with the Government of DRC. The UK continues to remind all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law and make clear that all those who have committed human rights violations and abuses must be held accountable.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has banned the use of DeepSeek.

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

The Government has a robust set of security policies in place to oversee how information is handled, within our buildings, on our IT, and by our staff. We keep these policies under constant review to ensure they are applicable to new technologies. The AI Playbook for the UK Government outlines that only corporately assured Generative AI tools should be used to process HMG information. Everyone who works in Government has a duty of confidentiality and a responsibility to safeguard any government information or data that they process, access or share, and all government departments are required to meet a range of mandatory security standards.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress his department has made on the rollout of Project Gigabit in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

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

According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 94% premises in the South Holland and The Deepings constituency can access superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps) and 81% have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection (>1000 Mbps).

To improve this coverage further, Quickline is delivering a Project Gigabit contract across Lincolnshire and East Riding, and CityFibre is delivering a contract across Cambridgeshire and adjacent areas. Both contracts are targeted at bringing gigabit-capable broadband to premises in hard-to-reach areas that are unlikely to be otherwise reached by suppliers’ commercial rollout. Work has already commenced in parts of South Holland and The Deepings.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many British Army full-time personnel (a) retired and (b) left the profession for other reasons in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The requested information is published in the Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics, the latest edition of which (1 January 2025) can be found at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2025

Table 5d - Row 43 to 60 shows the Army Outflow numbers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, following the abolition of NHS England, where ultimate commissioning accountability will sit for (a) Cystic Fibrosis and (b) other specialised NHS services.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Ministers will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. Work has begun immediately to start bringing teams in NHS England and the Department together, and over the next two years, NHS England and the Department will combine to form a new joint centre.

NHS England will continue to carry out its statutory duties until Parliamentary time allows for legislation to be brought forward to amend the Department’s responsibilities.

The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. We will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, driving productivity up, and getting waiting times down.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the potential savings to the public purse of abolishing the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies (“CICs”) (“the Regulator”) plays a crucial role in maintaining the CIC model as an effective form of social enterprise. By exploiting the considerable overlap between the Regulator and Companies House, and the close working relationship that already exists between the two, the Government intends to fully integrate the Regulator’s functions into Companies House as part of wider plans to streamline the UK’s regulatory environment. As the Regulator is entirely funded by fees, there will be no saving to the public purse.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help support young people to get onto the housing ladder in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The affordability challenges facing prospective first-time buyers mean that too many people are now locked out of homeownership. This government is determined to change that, ensuring that young families and hardworking renters can buy a home of their own.

Boosting the supply of homes of all tenures must be at the heart of any strategy to improve housing affordability which is why the government’s Plan for Change includes a hugely ambitious milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament.

In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, we are committed to introducing a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme, to support first-time buyers, including those in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire, who struggle to save for a large deposit, with lower mortgage costs.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make a comparative assessment of trends in the levels of academic attainment from children in schools that (a) have and (b) have not banned smartphones in the last 12 months.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Schools should prohibit the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime, as set out in the ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance 2024. The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of food supplied to armed forces personnel is sourced from British farms.

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

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 March 2025 to Question 36360 to the hon. Member for South Holland and the Deepings (The Rt Hon Sir John Hayes MP CBE).

Found: Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda: Christianity 25 Mar 2025 | 38345 Asked by: Sir John Hayes

Found: _4 Sammy Wilson Sir John Hayes .

Found: _4 Sammy Wilson Sir John Hayes .

Found: _4 Sammy Wilson Sir John Hayes .

Found: Return Nil return Nil return Nil return John Evans Nil Return Nil return Nil return Nil return John Hayes

Found: Nil Return Gill Evans Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Jim Harra Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return John Hayes

Found: Administration fee for cancelling train tickets Bristol; UK Train Economy/Standard 5 N/A N/A 5 John Hayes