Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire will receive funding from the Recovery Grant, announced on 28 November 2024.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The newly announced £600 million Recovery Grant, part of the provisional 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement, is part of the careful balance this Government is making between meeting the current, acute pressures and taking meaningful steps towards a fundamental update of the system that will improve sector sustainability as a whole. The Recovery Grant will go to places where, weighted by population, deprivation outweighs council tax raising ability.
The government is also clear that the outcomes of this grant will not reflect the final outcome of reform which will be based on a full, broader assessment of need and will not be based on deprivation alone.
Both Lincolnshire County Council and South Kestevan District Council will not receive funding from the Recovery Grant. South Holland District Council will receive £0.2 million. Although not all councils will receive allocations from the Recovery Grant, it is only one part of the 2025-26 Settlement, which will be worth £69 billion and will ensure that no council will see a decrease in Core Spending Power.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help prevent people from fraudulently claiming child benefit.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC estimated the 2023-24 Child Benefit Error and Fraud (E&F) rate to be 1.6% (£200m) of total Child Benefit expenditure.
Child Benefit has strong pre-award controls. The emphasis of HMRC’s compliance strategy remains on unreported changes in circumstance including improving detection through further data acquisition.
As part of this strategy the government announced in Autumn Statement 2024 that it is investing in 180 new counter-fraud staff to increase HMRC’s capabilities to better tackle fraud and error in Child Benefit and Tax-Free Childcare. This is expected to deliver a net saving of £355 million from 2025-26 to 2029-30.
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, if he will take steps to prevent companies from changing commissions to franchisees at short notice.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The franchising industry self-regulates through the British Franchise Association (BFA) and its Code of Ethics, and the Quality Franchise Association, which offers a Code of Conduct. Franchise agreements are the primary instrument that govern the relationship between franchisors and franchisees and those should normally include details such as fees, territory rights, contract duration and dispute resolution mechanisms. Disputes are, therefore, a private matter in which it would be inappropriate for Government to intervene.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff are employed by the Met Office.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Met Office currently employs one full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion member of staff.
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 full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff are employed by the Charity Commission.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission for England and Wales has no full time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff.
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, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on the NHS budget.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Now that Parliament has voted to give the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill a Second Reading, the Government will assess the impacts of the bill and publish these in due course.
This continues to be a matter for Parliament and, as the bill progresses, Members of Parliament, both Honourable and Right Honourable, will further debate and scrutinise the legislation and the Government will respect Parliament’s will.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information her Department holds on how many high-street branches of (a) banks and (b) building societies have closed in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire in the last 10 years.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not hold bank branch closure data. However, according to consumer website Which?, South Holland and The Deepings constituency lost just over 60% of its branch network between January 2015 and November 2024, and has six branches remaining.
Guidance from the FCA sets out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs, and put in place alternatives, where this is reasonable.
The Government is working closely with banks to roll out 350 banking hubs, which will provide individuals and businesses up and down the country with critical cash and banking services. The Government also recognises the value that building societies bring to local communities, including through their 28% share of the UK’s branch network.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff are employed by the UK Space Agency.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK Space Agency employs one member of staff in an Employee Experience Lead role, of which 0.5 FTE is allocated to equality, diversity and inclusion.
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 full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff are employed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) headcount stands at 1,452 employees. The MHRA has a Head of Diversity and Staff Engagement, and a Diversity and Staff Engagement Coordinator, who are focussed on diversity, equality, and inclusion for half of their full-time equivalent (FTE) hours, with the remaining half of their FTE hours focussed on other human resources portfolio priorities.
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 of the solar farm applications he has approved since July 2024 include development on high grade agricultural land.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
All four solar developments consented since July 2024 included some use of agricultural land classified as ‘best and most versatile’ (BMV). Our assessment of the use of this BMV land and its weighting on the planning balance are detailed in the decision letter for each consent decision.