Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that secondary school pupils have access to appropriate school transport arrangements in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home to school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities are responsible for arranging free home to school travel for eligible children. A child is eligible if they are of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational need, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families.
In addition, the Bus Services Act 2025 puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England. This will enable them to ensure local bus services meet the needs of local communities, including supporting access to education.
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 steps her Department is taking to help tackle organised acquisitive rural crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are improving the protections for rural communities, with tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft. This financial year the Home Office will be providing the first Government funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (£365,000) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (£450,000).
The National Wildlife Crime Unit has a far-reaching impact, assisting in detecting high-profile and high-value crimes including serious organised crime. This includes disrupting organised crime groups. Funding the National Rural Crime Unit enables it to continue to increase collaboration across police forces, harnessing the latest technology and data to target the serious organised crime groups involved in crimes like equipment theft from farms.
Through the Crime and Policing Bill we are introducing a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, where the items are reasonably believed to have been stolen and are on those premises, and where it has not been reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court.
Additionally, we are committed to the implementation of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act and fully support its intentions to tackle the theft and re-sale of All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), quad bikes and GPS systems.
There can be challenges in responding to rural crime. That is why we have worked closely with the NPCC to deliver their updated Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025-2028. The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling crimes that predominantly affect rural communities.
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 speed cameras on motorways and major A roads in England have been replaced for being faulty in each of the past five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The management of speed cameras on the strategic road network is split between National Highways and the Police, so the Department does not hold this data.
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 information her Department holds on the number of occasions the police has (a) investigated and (b) charged abortion practitioners in relation to abortions suspected to have taken place on the basis of sex in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences and their investigative outcomes recorded by the police in England and Wales. This includes the number of offences of procuring illegal abortion and intentional destruction of a viable unborn child. This information is published as official statistics each quarter and the latest information, to the year ending June 2025, can be accessed here:
Information is not held on whether the abortion took place on the basis of sex or the status of the individual charged.
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 has he made of the trends in the level of consistency of NHS Continuing Healthcare assessments across (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Surrey Heath on 30 December 2025 to Question 99029.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support (a) consumers and (b) businesses in South Holland and the Deepings constituency with (1) petrol and (2) diesel costs.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to ensuring fair fuel prices for consumers and businesses. Following the Competition and Markets Authority’s 2023 Road Fuel Market Study, we introduced statutory powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 to monitor pricing and identify anti-competitive behaviour in the fuel market. We are also implementing Fuel Finder, an open data scheme providing real-time petrol and diesel prices to improve transparency and competition, helping drivers and businesses find the best deals. These measures aim to reduce costs and protect consumer interests across the UK, including South Holland and The Deepings.
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 and what proportion of individuals referred to the Prevent programme in the last three years were found to not be at risk of radicalisation.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The table below provides the number and proportion of individuals referred to the Prevent programme over the last three years who were assessed as ‘requiring no further action’.
Table 1: Proportion of individuals found to not be at risk of radicalisation by year |
|
|
|
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Prevent Referrals | 6,817 | 6,922 | 8,778 |
Prevent Referrals requiring no further action, Total | 1,172 | 1,339 | 2,636 |
Proportion of individuals found to not be at risk of radicalisation | 17% | 19% | 30% |
Note: The proportion of individuals assessed as not at risk of radicalisation is calculated as the number of Prevent referrals requiring no further action divided by the total number of Prevent referrals.
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 a duty to report if property in the UK is purchased by other nation states.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry records show that The People’s Republic of China is the registered proprietor of 58 registered titles in England and Wales.
Two further titles are registered in the name of The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, and four titles are registered in the name of The National Tourism Administration of the People's Republic of China.
Although HM Land Registry does not have a formal duty to report new acquisitions of UK land registered in the name of foreign states, this information is held by HM Land Registry and can be accessed where required by government and others subject to the general law relating to data protection and freedom of information.
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, how many properties registered with HM Land Registry are owned by the People's Republic of China.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry records show that The People’s Republic of China is the registered proprietor of 58 registered titles in England and Wales.
Two further titles are registered in the name of The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, and four titles are registered in the name of The National Tourism Administration of the People's Republic of China.
Although HM Land Registry does not have a formal duty to report new acquisitions of UK land registered in the name of foreign states, this information is held by HM Land Registry and can be accessed where required by government and others subject to the general law relating to data protection and freedom of information.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make new capital funding available for school buildings in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We are investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26.
As part of this, in 2025/26, Lincolnshire County Council was allocated almost £6 million to invest across its maintained schools. Capital funding for other bodies responsible for schools in South Holland and the Deepings are also available on GOV.UK. We expect to publish capital allocations and the outcomes of the Condition Improvement Fund for the 2026/27 financial year in the spring.
We are also investing almost £20 billion in the School Rebuilding Programme through to 2034/35, delivering rebuilding projects at over 500 schools within the existing programme, with a further 250 schools to be selected within two years. We plan to open a nomination round early in 2026.
Lincolnshire has also been allocated £62.2 million of Basic Need capital funding to support it to create mainstream school places needed between May 2024 and September 2028.