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 plans her Department has to support the (a) maintenance and (b) operation of swimming facilities in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.
In June, we committed another £400 million to transform sports facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will ensure that this funding promotes health, wellbeing and community cohesion and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
I met with Sir John Hayes and Deepings Leisure Centre Community Group in July this year to discuss grassroots sport and facilities provision in his constituency.
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 days the Union Flag was flown on her Department's main sites in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Union Flag has flown every day from a flagpole on the 1 Horse Guards Road side of DCMS’ main site at Government Offices Great George Street throughout 2024 and to date in 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, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Sport England in supporting grassroots sport 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)
In the last financial year, 2024-25, Sport England invested £43,803 into South Holland and the Deepings constituency and £1,924,805 into Lincolnshire to improve access to sport and physical activity.
A large part of Sport England’s work focuses on their place partnerships work, where they work with local areas to understand and overcome the specific barriers to sport and physical activity in communities. Boston and East Lindsey in Lincolnshire are two of Sport England’s place partnerships.
I met with Sir John Hayes and Deepings Leisure Centre Community Group in July this year to discuss grassroots sport and facilities provision in his constituency.
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 equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission for England and Wales promotes hybrid working arrangements. Equipment provided to staff (such as laptops) are used for both office working and home working.
The Charity Commission publishes an Annual Report that lists a summary of spending for that year on the Commission’s property and equipment assets.
All the Charity Commission’s equipment purchases are made through Government frameworks.
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 her Department has spent on equipment for civil servants to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS has spent the below on the provision of equipment for use at home relating to a workplace adjustment in the last 3 years:
22/23: £0
23/24: £2,490.46
24/25: £882.37
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 help improve access to sport for (a) children and (b) young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Every child should have the opportunity to play sport and do regular physical activity including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Prime Minister recently announced a new School Sport Partnerships approach and a new Enrichment Framework for schools to ensure all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity. The ongoing independent expert-led review of the curriculum will ensure that all children can engage with a broad range of subjects, including PE and sport.
On 20 June 2025, the Culture Secretary announced that following the Spending Review, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will now work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs, including for children and young people, and then set out further plans.
In the last financial year, 2024-25, Sport England, our Arm’s Length Body for community sport, invested £43,803 into South Holland and the Deepings constituency to improve access to sport and physical activity.
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, if she will take steps to promote timebanking to support social inclusion.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Although government does not currently promote a specific form of social action such as timebanking, we are strongly committed to supporting social action in all its forms and recognise its role in supporting social inclusion in local communities. Timebanking can be a fantastic way to encourage more people to get involved and make a difference in their local area and help to foster social connections. It is hugely positive to see just how many organisations offer some form of timebanking or time credits to incentivise people to give their time freely for social good.
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 funding her Department plans to provide for (a) sports and (b) health clubs facilities in (i) South Holland District and (ii) South Kesteven District in the next 12 months.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and benefits from high-quality sport facilities, which offer the chance to be physically active.
The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sports and health club facilities through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.
The constituency of South Holland and the Deepings received a total of £14,473 of funding through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in the last 2 funding years. More information about this funding can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/multi-sport-grassroots-facilities-programme-projects-2021-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 much funding her Department has allocated to grassroots sports clubs in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the last 2 years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and benefits from high-quality sport facilities, which offer the chance to be physically active.
The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sports and health club facilities through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.
The constituency of South Holland and the Deepings received a total of £14,473 of funding through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in the last 2 funding years. More information about this funding can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/multi-sport-grassroots-facilities-programme-projects-2021-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, what steps she is taking to increase the number of apprenticeship starts in her Department.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity. This includes supporting the Government's commitment to 2,000 digital apprenticeships through its TechTrack scheme by 2030 to improve digital skills and drive improvements and efficiency in public services.
Additionally, a new cross-Government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, The ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA), will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is increasing apprenticeship starts through targeted external recruitment and we are commencing a pilot ‘social mobility program’ utilising the Cabinet Office ‘Going Forward In Employment’ apprenticeships. DCMS will also be involved with the ‘Civil Service Career Launch apprenticeship’, exploring Levy transfer options and broadening its internal apprenticeship offer in professions such as Digital.