Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential contribution of school food procurement to the resilience of the (a) fruit and (b) vegetable supply chain.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new national procurement policy statement sets out requirements for government contracts, favouring products certified to high environmental standards that we think British producers operating to high standards are well-placed to meet.
We are engaging with stakeholders on revising the school food standards to ensure the guidance supports our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history. The current standards state one or more portions of vegetables as an accompaniment and one or more portions of fruit must be provided every day, as well as at least three different fruits and three different vegetables each week. As with all aspects of the school food standards review, we will consider our approach to fruit and vegetable provision.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Young Futures Hubs she plans to create in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
To roll out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, the government will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas and will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs and where they may be located.
The government will set out more details on timelines and locations in due course.
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 she plans to continue the Talent Catalogue beyond the Displaced Talent Mobility Pilot.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office’s Displaced Talent Mobility Pilot ended on 1 November 2024. The Talent Catalogue used during the pilot was wholly owned and operated by Talent Beyond Boundaries, the non-profit organisation who were the delivery partner for the pilot.
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 he will make it his policy that newly qualified dentists deliver a minimum amount of NHS work after graduating.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions. The Department consulted on an NHS tie-in for graduate dentists last year, and we are considering the responses. The Government position on this proposal will be set out in due course.
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, how much funding has been allocated to community safety initiatives in Lincolnshire in the last three years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
As the locally elected representative for policing in their area, it is for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to decide on the allocation of funding to community safety initiatives, based on the priorities set out in their Police and Crime Plans.
Lincolnshire Police will receive up to £174.5 million in 2025-26, an increase of up to £10.3 million when compared to the 2024-25 funding settlement. This equates to a 6.2% cash increase and 3.8% real terms increase in funding.
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, what steps she is taking to increase the number of disability-accessible houses in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 40122 on 26 March 2025.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was of the Civil Service Muslim Network in the last three years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service Muslim Network (CSMN) is a volunteer collaborative group of Civil Service staff. The majority of staff network time is voluntary. The CSMN network does not hold a budget, but a department can choose to provide support where there is a business case to do so. We are not aware of any such financial support. There has been no centrally funded cost to the public purse of the CSMN network in the last three years.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students from overseas have come from countries where there are travel restrictions for people with security clearance by country of origin.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect this information.
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, what steps she is taking to help disrupt county lines operations in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the drug gangs that run county lines through violence and exploitation. That is why we are investing £42m this financial year (25/26) in the County Lines Programme, to target exploitative drug dealing gangs whilst breaking the organised crime groups behind this trade.
Between July 2024 and March 2025, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 1,200 deal lines closed, 2,000 arrests (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 800 deal line holders) and 2,100 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people. Over 320 children and young people also received dedicated specialist support through the County Lines Programme support service in that time.
While the the majority of lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, and Greater Manchester Police, county lines is a national issue which affects all forces. That is why, through the Home Office-funded County Lines Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The County Lines Programme taskforces regularly conduct joint operations with other forces, and we have established a dedicated fund which provides local forces with additional funding to tackle county lines, including Lincolnshire Police.
The National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) also regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in. The most recent of these took place 25 November to 1 December 2024. During this period, law enforcement activity delivered by Lincolnshire Police resulted in 18 individual arrests, and £10,000 in cash and £33,000 worth of drugs being seized.
As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we have introduced a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring children into violent crime. We are also introducing a new criminal offence of ‘coerced internal concealment’ as an amendment to the Bill, which will crack down on the dangerous practice of anyone, including gang leaders, who forces people to hide items inside their bodies to avoid detection often as part of horrendous and exploitative drugs trade.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people absconded while on bail awaiting trial in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of people sentenced for failing to surrender to bail under section 6 of the Bail Act 1976 at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.