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 apprenticeship starts in her Department.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
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.”
Since 2023, the Ministry of Housing, Community, and Local Government has increased the proportion of its staff on apprenticeships from 2% to 5.1%. We are currently exploring how additional entry level programmes in digital, data and AI, including the TechTrack Level 4 Business Analyst apprenticeship, can be used to build the department’s capability in this vital area.
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 the total cost to the public purse was for the creation of the Greater Lincolnshire combined county authority.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The costs of establishing and running Mayoral Combined (County) Authorities are managed by its constituent councils and the Authority itself once established. Government provides support to help with these costs. For Greater Lincolnshire the government provided £500k Mayoral Capacity Funding in 2024-25.
There are considerable benefits for Greater Lincolnshire from the devolution agreement, which include £24 million a year investment funding for 30 years, and the transport and adult skills budgets that were previously controlled from Whitehall.
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, with reference the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025, whether her Department plans to amend its policy on the use of women only spaces in its buildings by transgender women.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are reviewing our policies, including on toilets and single-sex spaces, in line with the Supreme Court ruling.
We will follow external advice from relevant advisory bodies.
We aim to ensure appropriate facilities are available for all staff.
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, whether Homes England has offered apprenticeships in each year since 2018.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homes England has made use of apprentices each year in its workforce since 2017.
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, whether HM Land Registry has offered apprenticeships since 2010.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Civil Service is committed to using apprenticeships to break down barriers to opportunity, support skills development and deliver more effective public services.
HM Land Registry has offered 800 apprenticeships across England and Wales since 2014.
Those apprenticeships have ranged from Level 2 to Level 7 to support personal development and increase organisational capability while also supporting apprentices to join Government Professions such as Digital, Data & Technology, Legal, HR and Finance.
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, if she will make an assessment of the cost to the public purse of local government reorganisation in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The overall case for local government reorganisation is set out the English Devolution White Paper.
A PWC 2020 report estimated that reorganisation of the then 25 two-tier areas to a single unitary would have a one-off cost of £400 million, with the potential to realise £2.9 billion over five years, with an annual post-implementation net recurring saving of £700 million, however as it is for local areas to submit proposals for government to consider, the savings could vary area by area and across England in the round. We are also keen to ensure the wider benefits are also promoted, specifically simplified and more efficient structures.
Councils in Lincolnshire were invited on 5 February to develop proposals for reorganisation, which are due to be submitted to government by November 2025. It will be for the new councils to achieve the efficiencies identified in reorganisation proposals and subsequent detailed implementation and transformation plans while delivering high quality and sustainable public services to local residents and businesses.
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 help support young people to get onto the housing ladder in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The affordability challenges facing prospective first-time buyers mean that too many people are now locked out of homeownership. This government is determined to change that, ensuring that young families and hardworking renters can buy a home of their own.
Boosting the supply of homes of all tenures must be at the heart of any strategy to improve housing affordability which is why the government’s Plan for Change includes a hugely ambitious milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament.
In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, we are committed to introducing a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme, to support first-time buyers, including those in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire, who struggle to save for a large deposit, with lower mortgage costs.
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 proportion of food procured by her Department is sourced in the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
As tenants in our offices, the management and procurement of food supplies is overseen by the Government Property Agency or the Landlord.
To date the Government has not held information on where publicly procured food is sourced from. This Government is reviewing the food currently bought in the public sector to determine the standards that it is meeting, where it is bought from and look to introduce monitoring for transparency and accountability within those supply chains to ultimately get the best food for the consumer. This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies as we want to help make it an equal playing field for British producers to bid into the £5 billion spent each year on public sector catering contracts.
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, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking embodied carbon into account when considering proposals to restore or replace older buildings.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 28035 on 18 February 2025.
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, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Ministers and officials utilise AI for various purposes. This includes automating routine tasks (such as data entry and document processing), supporting research and development initiatives and analysing large datasets to identify trends and inform policy decisions.