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 heritage assets in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government takes our responsibility to the built historic environment seriously. For this year alone, my Department has committed nearly £60 million of funding for heritage, including £15m for Heritage at Risk.
Funding is administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Arms-Length-Bodies. Since 1994, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £5,540,760 to 110 projects in South Holland and the Deepings.
Historic England has also administered funding in South Holland and the Deepings. This has gone towards projects such as the 2024 - 2027 Lincolnshire Extended Urban Survey, which worked to underpin better decision making, archaeological understanding and design in the county’s towns, and received £211,000.
There are currently 12 heritage assets on the Heritage at Risk Register in the area, and Historic England are actively engaged with all of them. These include conservation areas, listed buildings, and scheduled monuments.
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme gives grants towards VAT paid on repairs and renovations to the nation’s listed sites of worship across the UK. Since August 2022, 41 claims have been paid to 15 Listed Places of Worship based in the South Holland local authority area to a value of £78,125.6.
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 and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2025
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report andAccounts. The latest report for FY 2024/25 can be found at the following web address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dcms-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025
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 staff in her Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the past three years.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport delivers a wide range of communications campaigns through digital and traditional channels. It is not possible to provide the exact number of staff employed solely to create social media content. These responsibilities are integrated into the broader roles of staff within the digital and communications teams to ensure the best value for the taxpayer.
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 help support the tourism industry in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS is committed to ensuring that tourism contributes to growth and jobs across all parts of the country particularly in rural areas such as Lincolnshire, home to historic sites such as Lincoln Cathedral and Castle and family attractions including Lincolnshire Wildlife Park.
DCMS works with VisitBritain and VisitEngland to champion visits to the British countryside to a worldwide audience with the aim of ensuring that the economic benefits of tourism are felt by all regions and nations.
The Government is committed to supporting the sector through the forthcoming Visitor Economy Growth Plan, which will set out a long term plan to increase visitor flows across the UK, boost value, and deliver sustainable growth.
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 she is taking to increase volunteering opportunities in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Volunteering is vital to the fabric of British life and communities throughout the country. That’s why the Government aims to encourage and enable as many people as possible to be involved. This year, we are investing in developing an open data infrastructure for volunteering, which will make it easier for people to find opportunities online and volunteer in their communities.
DCMS is also supporting the launch of The Big Help Out 2026, which aims to encourage organisations to provide meaningful volunteering opportunities and inspire people to make a difference in communities across the country. The campaign will signpost local opportunities, including in Lincolnshire, to encourage new volunteers to get involved in a range of activities. People can register their interest in The Big Help Out 2026 here.
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 discussions her Department has had with stakeholders to improve tennis facilities in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis, along with representatives from other other sports, to discuss this.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport in England through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association which will receive up to £14.5 million for seven years from 2022 to 2029 to invest in community tennis initiatives that will benefit as many people as possible.
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 discussions her Department has had with stakeholders on improving access to all weather football pitches in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government’s recent announcement of £400 million to be invested in grassroots sports facilities across the UK over the next four years will ensure we can continue to deliver high-quality grass, artificial grass pitches and other multi-sport facilities in the areas that require them, in order to increase participation and allow people to be active.
Following this announcement, we have been working in collaboration with the sports sector and local leaders to develop plans for delivering future funding.
We want to ensure these plans take a place-based approach to investment, using regional expertise across the country to deliver in line with demand in each area. Plans for future funding programmes will be confirmed in due course.
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 much the Charity Commission has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission’s total spend on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years is detailed in the below table:
Year | Spend (£) |
2024/25 | 31,219.52 |
2023/24 | 35,879.83 |
2022/23 | 34,318.51 |
2021/22 | 15,016.08 |
2020/21 | 10,129.45 |
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 (a) single sex and (b) gender neutral bathroom facilities her Department provides in its main Whitehall building.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s main Whitehall building is 100 Parliament Street, housed within the Government Offices Great George Street (GOGGS). GOGGS is managed by the Government Property Agency (GPA) on behalf of the departments which occupy the building. It has 201 single sex cubicles, 80 urinals and 2 non-gendered universal toilets (individual self-contained lockable toilet rooms which contain a toilet, washbasin and hand-drying facilities). This is in addition to 40 wheelchair accessible toilets.
These figures come from an audit carried out by the GPA and therefore reflect the facilities across both 100 Parliament Street and 1 Horseguards Road.
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 plans to take to ensure that critical services continue to operate in the event of a major internet outage.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS has established business continuity and IT service continuity arrangements to sustain critical services during severe disruption, including a major internet outage. The business continuity function works closely with key stakeholders to regularly test arrangements across a range of scenarios.