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, what steps her Department is taking to support local media in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Sustainability of local journalism across the country is an area of particular concern for this Government, including in South Holland and the Deepings and more broadly across Lincolnshire. The Government understands the important work that local news does across the UK, including outlets such as the Spalding Guardian and the Lincolnshire Echo. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. Our vision is a thriving local media that can continue to play an invaluable role as a key channel of trustworthy information at local level, reporting on the issues that matter to communities, reflecting their contributions and perspectives, and helping to foster a self-confident nation in which everyone feels that their contribution is part of an inclusive national story.
We are working across Government and with other stakeholders as the Strategy develops. DCMS ministers held a roundtable discussion with local news editors in the spring to discuss the planned approach and collaboration with industry on the Strategy. An industry working group has since been set up to consider the issues in more detail and has been meeting regularly since June. More will be announced on the Strategy in the coming months.
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 improve training opportunities in construction for people in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to improving construction training opportunities across England, including in South Holland and the Deepings.
A wide range of government-funded programmes are available for construction employers who are considering hiring employees, offering work experience, or upskilling existing staff. These include Apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, and Free Courses for Jobs. Through the Construction Support Package, we are investing in high-quality training provision, supporting providers to deliver industry-relevant skills and helping more people into good jobs in the sector. The recently announced Construction Technical Excellence Colleges (CTEC) will drive up standards in construction education by working closely with employers to ensure training meets current and future workforce needs.
The CTEC serving the East of England region, which includes South Holland and the Deepings, is West Suffolk College. This college is part of the government’s initiative to train construction workers through a network of 10 regional hubs operating under a ‘hub and spoke’ model.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 73942 on Department for Education: Social Media, how much her Department has spent on social media influencers since July 2024, listed by influencer.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Commercial sensitivities exist around aspects of spending of this kind which could prejudice commercial interests. All spend in these areas are subject to the standard value for money assessments.
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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of reducing levels of funding for level 7 apprenticeships on the number of nurses in training.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings to the answer to Question 83834.
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 recent steps his Department has taken to support jobseekers in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Spalding JCP have arrangements in place with Boston College to come into their site on a fortnightly basis to provide Information, Advice & Guidance & links for customers to their Adult Skills Courses.
Lincolnshire Voluntary Services are also monthly visitors to Spalding JCP who come in to relay their current local volunteering offers to a wide range of customers, particularly those with health conditions, from which they can gain work experience & increase their confidence in progression towards the labour market.
Spalding JCP have also commissioned delivery of digital support to their 50+ customers aimed at increasing their confidence in using digital platforms for work search & training & also obtaining best value products to assist with cost of living rises. The latest cohort ran from 26th Sept & ended 10th October, with a new cohort due to start in November.
Finally, planning is already ongoing for an upcoming event run in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council Adult Skills Team called ‘Grow Your Skills’ whereby the skills providers funded by LCC in the local area are given an opportunity to showcase their offers to adults in the area. JCP connect their customers & their network of partners to those events to facilitate their connection to Skills, Opportunities, Jobs & Support.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that critical services continue to run in the event of a major internet outage.
Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provides IT services, including cyber security to my Department.
The government has a robust set of policies in place to ensure there are well-defined and tested incident management processes in place, and to ensure continuity of essential functions in the event of system or service failure.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter, which will set out a clear approach for the Government and the Wider Public Sector to manage cyber security and resilience incidents.
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, if she will make it her policy to direct police forces to instruct them to scrap the recording of all non-crime hate incidents.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government has been clear that the police should focus on tackling real crime and policing the streets, and that a consistent and common-sense approach must be taken with non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs).
That is why the Home Secretary has asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing to expedite its review of NCHIs which began earlier this year. The review, which is ongoing, is considering the recording of information that has not yet reached the criminal threshold, but which may still be useful for the purposes of monitoring community tensions and keeping the public safe. It is also considering the fundamental right of freedom of expression and recent court rulings in this area.
The Home Office is working closely with the NPCC and the College as they further develop their findings. We look forward to receiving the final recommendations of this review, and to working with forces to ensure they have the clarity they need to focus on keeping our communities safe whilst protecting free speech.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that critical services continue to run in the event of a major internet outage.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
Government has a robust set of policies in place to ensure there are well-defined and tested incident management processes in place, and to ensure continuity of essential functions in the event of system or service failure.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter, which will set out a clear approach for the Government and the Wider Public Sector to manage cyber security and resilience incidents.
The Scotland Office uses the information technology system provided and operated by the Cabinet Office, which has responsibility for all hardware and software procurement, administration, support maintenance, security, and integrity of the system.
We work closely with the Cabinet Office to understand the range of possible impacts from short to long term outage or disruption and to minimise the likelihood, impact, or time and cost of recovery. Measures to respond to major internet outages are built into our Business Continuity Planning...
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 his Department plans to take to ensure that critical services continue to run in the event of a major internet outage.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government has a robust set of policies in place to ensure there are well-defined and tested incident management processes in place, and to ensure continuity of essential functions in the event of system or service failure.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter, which will set out a clear approach for the Government and the Wider Public Sector to manage cyber security and resilience incidents.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what measures his Department has in place to continue to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Government has a robust set of policies in place to ensure there are well- defined and tested incident management processes in place, and to ensure continuity of essential functions in the event of system or service failure.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter, which will set out a clear approach for the Government and the Wider Public Sector to manage cyber security and resilience incidents.