Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what recent steps he has taken to support access to finance for SMEs in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The government is committed to improving access to finance, helping smaller businesses in Lincolnshire and across the United Kingdom secure the funding they need to grow and drive economic growth.
The Business Growth Service (BGS) www.business.gov.uk, launched in July 2025, makes it easier for UK businesses to get the advice and support they need to thrive both domestically and internationally.
At the Spending Review 2025, the government increased British Business Bank's financial capacity by two-thirds (£9.6 billion) to £25.6 billion making access to finance easier for SMEs.
Specific support for Lincolnshire, including information on accessing finance is also provided via Business Lincolnshire www.businesslincolnshire.com.
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, whether his Department monitors the amount of food waste generated by its offices each month.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Yes, the DWP does monitor the amount of food waste generated across the estate on a site-by-site monthly basis with the data being provided by its facilities management company.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase the provision of visually impaired sports facilities in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
High-quality, inclusive facilities are essential to increasing participation by under-represented groups, including for visually impaired people.
The Government is also investing £400m over the next four years in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities, promoting health, wellbeing and community cohesion, while removing the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups, including people with disabilities.
Sport England, the Government’s arm’s-length body for grassroots sport, works to improve accessibility nationwide, including in Lincolnshire and South Holland and the Deepings. Partnering with the Royal National Institute of Blind People and British Blind Sport, it invested £1 million in the See Sport Differently initiative to remove barriers preventing blind and partially sighted people from participating in physical activity. Additionally, Sport England’s updated Accessible and Inclusive Sports Facilities design guidance provides local authorities, leisure operators, and sports clubs with practical standards to ensure facilities are fully accessible to visually impaired participants.
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 steps she is taking to support active travel in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 12 June, this government published the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS3), which outlines the government’s vision for walking, wheeling and cycling to be safe, easy and accessible choices for everyone. Over the course of CWIS3, Active Travel England is providing more than £760 million of devolved funding for walking, wheeling and cycling schemes in England outside London, including £4.8m over financial years 2026/27 to 2029/30 for Lincolnshire Council, which includes South Holland and the Deepings. This is being provided as part of the Mayoral Transport Fund provided by the Department for Transport for Greater Lincolnshire.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the condition of the strategic road network in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The case for investment in Lincolnshire’s strategic road network was considered carefully as part of the process of developing the third Road Investment Strategy, covering the period 2026-2031, which was published in March 2026. The evidence underpinning this work was gathered as part of National Highways’s South Pennines and North and East Midlands Route Strategies. Route Strategies allow National Highways to consider the current performance and future needs of the strategic road network and to inform investment planning. They are revised to inform each five-year Road Investment Strategy period.
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 her Department uses AI to help verify the age of migrants that arrive in the UK.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has recently announced that the procurement process for a Facial Age Estimation (FAE) algorithm has concluded, and a new contract has been awarded to Akhter Computers Ltd, with Cognitec as sub-contractor. Our current intention is to begin using the technology, which harnesses the power of AI, during initial age decisions at the border, and to provide capabilities to the National Age Assessment Board and Local Authorities to access FAE results.
The Department is planning a series of trials and testing throughout 2026. Subject to the results of the testing, FAE is planned to be implemented from 2027.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on activities relating to Pride Month 2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
HM Treasury had no expenditure on activities relating to Pride Month 2026.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of civil servants in his Department were on permanent home working contracts in 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
As an office-based organisation, HM Treasury do not offer homeworking contracts and therefore there were no Civil Servants working at HM Treasury on permanent home working contracts in 2025.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many banks have closed in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in last five years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not hold official data on the number of bank branch closures in individual constituencies or counties. Decisions on opening and closing bank branches are commercial decisions for individual firms. However, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers' everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable.
This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers fairly. Where firms fall short of expectations, the FCA may ask for closures to be paused or other options to be put in place.
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 steps he is taking to support increased participation in bowel cancer screening in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In Lincolnshire, coverage amongst people aged between 60 and 74 years old is above the national average of 72.9% and currently stands at 75.5%. Nationally, coverage of bowel cancer screening has been increasing in recent years, with a marked increase from 2019 of 12.4% since the faecal immunochemical test was rolled out as the primary test in the screening programme.
Partners are working to increase participation in bowel cancer screening in Lincolnshire through a range of initiatives focused on improving access, awareness, and early diagnosis, including expanding eligibility for bowel cancer screening to include people aged over 50, enabling more residents to be screened, and working in partnership with the University of Lincoln's Lincolnshire Institute of Rural and Coastal Health to better understand barriers to screening participation and to develop evidence-based interventions to increase it.