Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of the working age population who are disabled in (a) the East Midlands and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is given in the table below.
Number and percentage of disabled people aged 16 to 64, 2022/2023
Geographical area | Number of working age disabled people | Percentage of working age people who are disabled |
East Midlands | 720,200 | 24.5% |
Lincolnshire | 129,300 | 29.7% |
Source – table LMS008
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 recent steps he has taken to help tackle fly tipping in rural areas.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We appreciate the difficulty that fly-tipping poses to landowners. We are working with stakeholders, such as the National Farmers Union and local authorities, through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to share good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land.
As part of the government’s commitment to unleash rural opportunity, we are currently funding a post within the new National Rural Crime Unit to explore how the police’s role in tacking fly-tipping can be optimised, with a focus on rural areas.
Across two rounds of our fly-tipping grant scheme, we have awarded nearly £1.2m to help more than 30 councils tackle fly-tipping at known hot-spots, including in rural areas, such as by installing CCTV. Round three is currently in progress and should see a further £1 million handed out in the spring to help even more councils tackle fly-tipping.
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 had recent discussions with the police on taking steps to help tackle shoplifting in rural areas.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the significant impact shoplifting has on businesses, communities, and consumers. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 48% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.
However, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 32% in the 12 months to September 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting offences has risen by 34% in the year ending September 2023, showing that police are taking action.
We have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime, including shoplifting.
In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.
This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender, including shoplifting.
October also saw the launch of Pegasus, a unique private-public partnership, which involves retailers providing data, intelligence and evidence to Opal, the national police intelligence unit on organised acquisitive crime, to develop a better strategic picture and help forces crack down on serious offenders.
The Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, which highlights five areas of work this Government will drive forward to tackle retail crime:
This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan.
We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which meets on a quarterly basis, to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are employed by NHS England in roles relating to equality, diversity and inclusivity as of 26 March 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are 51 staff with equality, diversity, or inclusion in their job title at NHS England, as of 26 February 2024. This covers a wide range of roles both supporting NHS England as an employer, and facing the wider National Health Service system, with some of these roles also covering other areas of NHS policy. NHS England has reduced the number of roles focused on equality, diversity and inclusion as part of its merger with NHS Digital and Health Education England. The roles that remain are essential to helping the NHS meet its legal duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the principles that guide the NHS Constitution. This includes overseeing statutory programmes that are focused on tackling discrimination by some staff which includes disabled staff, as well as roles dealing with the sexual safety of staff and patients in the NHS.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were employed by United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table below shows the number of full-time equivalent doctors and nurses, the latter of which includes health visitors, employed by the United Lincolnshire Hospital NHS Trust, in December of each of the last five years:
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Doctors | 802 | 882 | 922 | 997 | 1,080 |
Nurses | 1,626 | 1,611 | 1,723 | 1,809 | 2,105 |
Source: data is based on the monthly National Health Service workforce statistics published by NHS England, available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time for a driving test was in (a) England and (b) East Midlands as of 25 March 2024.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The average waiting time for a car practical driving test in England, in February 2024, was 17.5 weeks.
The average waiting time for a car practical driving test in the East Midlands, in February 2024, was 17.6 weeks.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of operations that were (a) cancelled and (b) delayed by more than two months due to the industrial action by junior doctors in 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of operations that were cancelled due to the industrial action by junior doctors in 2023, was 157,570. Data is not held regarding operations delayed by more than two months. The National Health Service is prioritising urgent, emergency, and cancer care, and will continue to do its best to maintain appointments and elective procedures wherever possible. Cancelled appointments that need to be rescheduled, will be done so as a priority. Data on the impact of industrial action is available here:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the Royal Air Force has spent on diversity and inclusion personnel since 2019.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Air Force has spent £3,072,249.93 on salaries for people employed in dedicated Diversity and Inclusion roles from 2019 to 2023.
The Royal Air Force has a number of individuals whose roles encompass Diversity and Inclusion. However, all Regular RAF personnel are first and foremost aviators and are paid as such. There are a small number of Civil Servants and Full Time Reserve Service personnel within the team who applied specifically for D&I roles. In February 2024, the Secretary of State for Defence ordered a root and branch review of ethnicity, diversity and inclusivity policies in Defence which is ongoing.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the Royal Navy has spent on diversity and inclusion personnel since 2019.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy has spent £2,445,980.00 on salaries for people employed in dedicated Diversity and Inclusion policy roles from 2019 to 2023.
The Royal Navy has a number of individuals whose roles encompass Diversity and Inclusion. Service Personnel rotate through postings which can include Diversity and Inclusion roles. Their work is supported by a small number of Civil Servants. Each of these individuals are paid commensurate to their rank and training. In February 2024, the Secretary of State for Defence ordered a root and branch review of ethnicity, diversity and inclusivity policies in Defence which is ongoing.
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 he is taking to improve the quality of water in rivers and streams in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to continue to improving water quality and are delivering the record investment, the stronger regulation and the tougher enforcement to improve our water for our own health, for nature and the economy. For example, on 20 February we announced plans to more than quadruple Environment Agency (EA) water company inspections, strengthening oversight, reducing the reliance on self-monitoring.
The EA is conducting a major investigation into potential widespread non-compliance by water and sewerage companies at sewage treatment works and has issued 7 warning letters to Anglian Water this financial year for serious or significant offences.
Through the Asset Management Plan (AMP), Anglian Water have an obligation to improve their water recycling centres to good ecological status under the Water Framework Directive. A total of 41 phosphorous and 3 ammonia improvements will be delivered by March 2027. A total of 56 phosphorous, 1 ammonia and 1 BOD improvements are planned between 2030-2035.
In June 2023 Omex were fined £510,190 for their pollution of the River Witham. Omex have spent over £3 million in making good damage caused by their pollution, including river remediation works under the Environmental Damage Regulations.
Finally, the EA also work closely with external partner organisations to deliver projects that have benefits around water quality, with regional examples including Water Friendly Farming and the Limestone Becks restoration.