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 the cost to the public purse was of the use of taxis by asylum seekers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Transport services for asylum seekers are provided through our Asylum Accommodation & Support Contracts. We pay a fixed rate for transportation services which is set out in the contracts. Our suppliers must deliver transportation requirements in line with contractual standards and the fixed rate – with the type of transportation determined by our suppliers within this framework. Information on spend by specific transportation types is therefore not readily available.
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, what steps he is taking to improve integration between NHS services and social care provision in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to improving integration between health and social care services nationally and locally. Our vision for neighbourhood health will see local government and the National Health Service working more closely together, with a revitalised role of Health and Wellbeing Boards and reform of the Better Care Fund (BCF).
Through the BCF, approximately £9 billion is being invested in 2025/26 to enable NHS bodies and local authorities to pool budgets and deliver joined-up care. This includes setting shared goals to reduce delayed discharges, avoid unnecessary hospital admissions, and support people to live independently at home.
In Lincolnshire, local Health and Wellbeing Boards are required to agree plans under the BCF framework to provide timely and coordinated support for people with complex needs. These plans prioritise effective discharge from hospital and recovery in the community.
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 list the organisations his Department has consulted on its upcoming acquired brain injury action plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I attended the UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum’s (UKABIF’s) annual summit in Manchester on 3 November 2025, where I discussed our forthcoming acquired brain injury (ABI) plan with a number of stakeholders, patients with lived experience and healthcare professionals with a specialist interest in ABI.
The Government’s ABI action plan will be published in the first half of 2026. It will be a landmark step in delivering the joined-up approach that people with ABI deserve.
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, when his Department intends to publish the acquired brain injury action plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I attended the UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum’s (UKABIF’s) annual summit in Manchester on 3 November 2025, where I discussed our forthcoming acquired brain injury (ABI) plan with a number of stakeholders, patients with lived experience and healthcare professionals with a specialist interest in ABI.
The Government’s ABI action plan will be published in the first half of 2026. It will be a landmark step in delivering the joined-up approach that people with ABI deserve.
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, whether his Department plans to increase the availability of defibrillators in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Over 110,000 defibrillators are registered in the United Kingdom on The Circuit, the independent automated external defibrillator (AED) database. The Department’s Community AED Fund delivered 3080 new AEDs to local communities between September 2023 and February 2025. The Department has no current plans to fund the purchase of additional AEDs, as local communities are best placed to make decisions about procuring, locating and maintaining AEDs.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any new veteran support centres will be located in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Applications are currently open for organisations to bid to become VALOUR recognised centres. The exact locations of centres will be dependent on the applications received, with consideration given to the geographic spread of centres. The programme guidance for applicants encourages them to consider how their bid will deliver more equity of access and consistency in service quality throughout the UK.
VALOUR recognised centres will facilitate in-person access to multiple services for veterans right across the UK. These centres will be required to meet high standards and provide timely data to the UK government regarding the needs and experiences of veterans to inform future service improvements.
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, how many of the neighbourhood health centres announced in the autumn budget 2025 will be based in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years and new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.
Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, targeting places where healthy life expectancy is lowest and delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. Both ICBs and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for Neighbourhood Health Centres.
We have also launched wave 1 of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 areas across England, including North East Lincolnshire. The NNHIP is supporting systems across the country in driving innovation and integration at a local level to improve the care they provide to their communities.
We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities such as Lincolnshire.
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 many asylum caseworkers have (1) left and (2) joined her Department since July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The number of full time equivalent (FTE) asylum caseworkers employed at the Home Office per month until September 2025 is published in the ASY_05(M) tab of the published migration transparency statistics, located here: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (Immigration and Protection data; July to September 2025)
At the end of July 2024, there were 2,455 FTE asylum caseworkers.
The latest published data shows that at the end of September 2025, there were 2,113 FTE asylum caseworkers. Attrition will have occurred since that time.
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, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Taskforce for Lung Health briefing entitled A Modern Service Framework for Respiratory campaign, published on 18 November 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of the taskforce for Lung Health’s report calling for a Modern Service Framework for Respiratory Health, including the impact of respiratory conditions on mortality rates, emergency admissions, inequalities, and productivity.
Modern service frameworks will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery. Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia.
The Government will consider other long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks, including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future modern service frameworks will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, where companies his Department has signed contracts with in relation to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy are based by local authority.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The total cost of the Afghan Response Programme (ARP) to the end of financial year 2024-25 is approximately £2.7 billion. The costs are shared cross-Government. This figure includes spend on contracts that were already acquired by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) which were then utilised for ARP as well as contracts directly acquired for the specific requirements of ARP. Due to the nature of how these schemes operate, it is not possible to provide a breakdown per scheme.
I am withholding details regarding the location of such companies that the MOD has contracts with as its disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the Ministry of Defence.