Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households have taken part in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in South Holland and the Deepings constituency since January 2022.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme opened to applications in May 2022. Up to the end of February 2024, there were 65 grants paid for installations in properties in the constituency of South Holland and the Deepings.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase childcare provision in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the government’s Spring Budget, the Chancellor of Exchequer announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By 2027/28, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs.
A commitment has been made to ensure that 30 hours of funded childcare is available for every child over the age of nine months with working parents by September 2025.
More parents are going to be able to return to work while balancing childcare commitments, thanks to the government’s £4 billion per year expansion of childcare in England. This is the largest expansion of funded childcare ever and will remove barriers to work for nearly half a million parents with a child under three in England.
South Holland and the Deepings constituency is within the area covered by Lincolnshire County Council.
Local authorities have received £12 million of local authority delivery support funding for this financial year to support with meeting programme and delivery costs associated with rolling out the expanded early year entitlements, from which Lincolnshire County Council received £125,423.
Local authorities have also received a £100 million allocation for local areas to use to make sure childcare settings in their areas have enough physical space, which is anticipated to add thousands of new childcare places across the country. Lincolnshire County Council received £1,461,094 from this fund.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
If Lincolnshire County Council report any sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, supports them with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the number of asylum seekers presenting as homeless.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Asylum seekers are not eligible for statutory homelessness assistance. The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help reverse biodiversity loss in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In England we have set four legally binding targets for biodiversity: to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030; then to reverse declines by 2042; to reduce the risk of species extinction by 2042; and restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat, also by 2042. These targets will drive actions to support biodiversity in Lincolnshire and every other area across England.
We have set out our plan to deliver on these ambitious targets, along with our other environmental targets, in the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23) published 31 January 2023. Here we link the different objectives, plans and mechanisms for recovering nature.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are being prepared across the whole of England to support the delivery of these targets. The 48 strategies are bringing together local partners to agree priorities and propose practical actions in areas where they would have the most benefit for nature recovery and the wider environment. Preparation of the Greater Lincolnshire LNRS is being led by Lincolnshire County Council, with support from local planning authorities in the area and Natural England.
The Lincolnshire Coronation Coast National Nature Reserve (NNR) was declared in September 2023. The newly expanded NNR will enhance the nature and biodiversity of the Greater Lincolnshire coast making it a bigger, better and more joined up area for wildlife, through bringing together the Donna Nook and Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes Nature Reserves and adding a further 2350 hectares of land managed for nature conservation. The reserve supports many breeding and over-wintering birds, natterjack toads, special plants and insects.
Additionally, the Environment Agency is working with partners to deliver the Upper Witham River and floodplain restoration projects (currently shortlisted for the River Restoration Centre award). Over the last 10 years, habitat along 19.4 km of river has been enhanced with 19 projects: from urban habitat improvement in Grantham, to large scale river and wetland restoration in rural areas.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2023 to Question 4035 on Veterans: Radiation Exposure, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the preparation of an instrument under the terms of section 3 of the Public Records Act 1958 to permanently retain the (a) ES and (b) AB series of files that were withdrawn from the National Archives in 2018.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Instruments under the terms of section 3 of the Public Records Act 1958 do not permit the permanent retention of records that have been selected for transfer to The National Archives. Instead, retained records must be reviewed by the Department after a maximum period of 10 years.
The review of the AB and ES files relating to the UK’s historic nuclear weapons programme is ongoing. The Ministry of Defence published an update on its review in January 2024, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-nuclear-archive-records/review-of-nuclear-archive-records-update-january-2024
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department has allocated to the farming sector in South Holland and the Deepings constituency since 2022 by (a) funding type and (b) recipient.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rual Payment Agency has supported the farming and rural sector through payments under a range of schemes.
Since January 2022, the RPA has released 954 payments to farmers, worth around £21.3m, in South Holland and the Deepings constituency broken down as follows.
Vol/Val | Basic Payment Scheme | Countryside Stewardship Scheme | Environmental Stewardship | Sustainable Farm Incentive | Other Grants | Total |
Volume | 756 | 140 | 5 | 25 | 28 | 954 |
Value (£) | £ 17,960,030.90 | £ 1,863,631.02 | £ 98,297.09 | £ 384,085.30 | £ 963,624.28 | £ 21,269,668.59 |
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many energy-saving home improvement projects have been completed through the Green Deal in South Holland and the Deepings constituency as of 3 April 2024.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department estimates that in South Holland and the Deepings constituency, eight projects are live (all measures installed but not yet paid off) and 12 projects have been completed (all measures installed and paid off).
Data covers the period from May 2013 to March 2024.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help increase business investment in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Government-owned British Business Bank is supporting business investment across the UK including through its Nations and Regions Investment Funds. This includes the £400m Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, supporting growing businesses across the Midlands.
Our Growth Hub network is also supporting businesses of all sizes and sectors across England. The Department for Business and Trade is working across the UK, including in Greater Lincolnshire to showcase strong, commercial investment opportunities to potential investors and support business to grow. The Government has also agreed a £720 million mayoral devolution deal for Greater Lincolnshire to support growth and business investment.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the transparency data entitled School rebuilding programme: schools in the programme, how much funding her Department has (a) allocated and (b) disbursed to each school selected in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
There are two schools selected for the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in South Holland and The Deepings constituency. These are University Academy Long Sutton and Tulip Academy.
The SRP is a centrally delivered programme. Therefore, no funding is allocated or distributed directly to schools. Once contracts are awarded for building works, they are published on the Contracts Finder within 30 calendar days. The Contracts Finder can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many grants her Department has made to (a) leisure centres and (b) swimming pools in (i) Lincolnshire and (ii) the East Midlands since 2010; and what the total value was of those grants.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a core life skill and a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing access to leisure facilities lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.
In 2023/24, the Government provided over £60 million to Local Authorities in additional funding to support operating costs and help improve energy efficiency of facilities through the Swimming Pool Support Fund, delivered via Sport England. In total, the Swimming Pool Support Fund (£60 million Exchequer, £20 million of Sport England National Lottery funding) will fund 442 individual facilities and 788 individual pools across 269 Local Authorities by March 2025.
As part of the Swimming Pool Support Fund:
Further details of local authorities and swimming pools/leisure centres awarded funding from Phase I and Phase II of the Swimming Pool Support Fund are available on Sport England’s website at:
We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s length body, Sport England - which receives £323 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year. Sport England publishes data on all grant recipients as part of its register of grants awards, which is updated on a quarterly basis with awards dating back to 2009. Between 2009 - 2023, in addition to the Swimming Pool Support Fund, Sport England provided over £2.1 million of funding to Lincolnshire and over £15 million to the East Midlands to support leisure centres and swimming pools. Across the East Midlands, just over £7 million of this is related to the Sport England Covid-19 Leisure Recovery Fund. There is more detail on Sport England’s website at: https://www.sportengland.org/about-us.