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 information her Department holds on the number of approved driving instructors in Lincolnshire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Information on the number of approved driving instructors by postcode, including for Lincolnshire is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/driving-instructor-and-motorcycle-instructor-register-data.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of available bus routes for people accessing hospital appointments in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government knows how important affordable and reliable bus services are in enabling people to access vital services, such as local hospitals, and we are committed to delivering better bus services right across the country, including in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire.
The Government’s Bus Services (No.2) Bill puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including ensuring access to vital local services such as hospitals. The Bill includes a measure on socially necessary services so that local authorities and bus operators have to have regard for alternatives to changing or cancelling services.
As part of the Autumn 2024 Budget, the Government allocated over £1 billion to support and improve bus services in 2025/26 and keep fares affordable. This includes £712 million for local authorities that can be used to expand services and improve reliability, which are currently massive obstacles for too many people. Lincolnshire County Council has been allocated £11.9 million of this funding. Funding allocated to local authorities to deliver better bus services can be used in whichever way they wish to improve services for passengers, including improving access to hospitals in South Holland and the Deepings constituency, and across Lincolnshire.
The Government reaffirmed its commitment to investing in bus services long-term in this Spending Review, confirming additional funding per year from 2026/27 to maintain and improve bus services, including taking forward franchising pilots and extending the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027.
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 measures her Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has a range of alternative means of communication, including telephony, and manual processes to facilitate business critical work and maintain operational continuity in the event of loss of internet connection over cellular and/or fixed line networks. The citizen and business facing services provided by our executive agencies are available via telephone, mail or via the Post Office.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many serious vehicle accidents caused by potholes have resulted in (a) driver and (b) passenger deaths in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire in each year since 2015.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department’s reported road collision statistics do not identify the cause of collisions. However, reporting police officers can assign up to 6 road safety factors which they believe may have contributed to the collision occurring.
There were no fatalities between 2015 and 2023 (the latest year for which figures are available) in collisions assigned the road safety factor “Poor or defective road surface or deposits on road” in South Holland and the Deepings.
Fatalities for Lincolnshire are shown in the table.
Area | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Lincolnshire | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
All fatalities were drivers or riders.
The number of collisions, involving at least one seriously injured casualty, which were assigned road safety factor “poor or defective road surface or deposits on road” between 2015 and 2023 are shown in the table.
Area | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
South Holland and the Deepings constituency | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Lincolnshire | 9 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 9 | 14 | 13 |
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many serious vehicle accidents have resulted from potholes in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in each year since 2015.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department’s reported road collision statistics do not identify the cause of collisions. However, reporting police officers can assign up to 6 road safety factors which they believe may have contributed to the collision occurring.
There were no fatalities between 2015 and 2023 (the latest year for which figures are available) in collisions assigned the road safety factor “Poor or defective road surface or deposits on road” in South Holland and the Deepings.
Fatalities for Lincolnshire are shown in the table.
Area | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Lincolnshire | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
All fatalities were drivers or riders.
The number of collisions, involving at least one seriously injured casualty, which were assigned road safety factor “poor or defective road surface or deposits on road” between 2015 and 2023 are shown in the table.
Area | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
South Holland and the Deepings constituency | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Lincolnshire | 9 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 9 | 14 | 13 |
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2025 to Question 74704 on Department for Transport: Social Media, how much her Department has spent on promotion through social media influencers since July 2024 by influencer.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As part of a 2025 THINK! campaign to reduce speeding among young men, the Department ran a media partnership with youth platform LADBible which involved working with two content creators as part of a wider partnership. However, we are unable to provide a cost breakdown on influencers specifically due to commercial sensitivities which could prejudice commercial interests. All spend in these areas are subject to the standard value for money assessments.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many days the Union Flag was flown on her Department's main sites in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
At our main London headquarters building the Union Flag is flown every day. The only other main site where there is a flag pole is Spring Place in Southampton. The Red Ensign, and the Coastguard Flag, which have the Union Flag incorporated within it, are flown Monday to Friday every week at this site.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding her Department has provided to Lincolnshire County Council to support (a) cycling and (b) walking in the last five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since 2021/22 the Department has provided almost £5 million of funding to Lincolnshire County Council to support cycling and walking. This has been provided through the Active Travel Fund, Capability Fund and from 2025/26 the Consolidated Active Travel Fund.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many potholes have been repaired in South Holland and the Deepings constituency since July 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local highway authorities must publish transparency reports about their maintenance activities to unlock their full share of the Government’s £500m uplift for local highways maintenance this year.
While data is not required to be provided at a constituency level, Lincolnshire County Council the highway authority responsible for the local road network in this constituency, have estimated that they have filled 72,421 potholes during the financial year of 2024-25. Reports are available on local highway authorities’ websites.
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 plans to take to improve bus (a) reliability and (b) frequency in rural parts of Lincolnshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is committed to delivering the better, more reliable bus services that passengers deserve throughout the country, including in rural areas. We introduced the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill on 17 December as part of our ambitious plan for bus reform. The Bill will put passenger needs, reliable services and local accountability at the heart of the industry by putting the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England, including in rural areas. The Bill includes a measure on socially necessary services so that local authorities and bus operators have to have regard for alternatives to changing or cancelling services.
In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Lincolnshire County Council was allocated £11.9 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.
The government reaffirmed its commitment to investing in bus services long-term in this Spending Review. On 11 June, the government confirmed additional funding per year from 2026/27 to maintain and improve bus services, including taking forward franchising pilots and extending the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027.