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Written Question
Cold Weather Payments: Lincolnshire
Thursday 18th April 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Cold Weather Payments have been made to pensioners in (a) South Holland and (b) Kesteven district in the last five years.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Cold Weather Payment (CWP) scheme is administered at weather station level rather than at a constituency or regional level etc. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office, which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0° C or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).

a) The area of South Holland covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PE11, PE12, PE10, PE6, PE13, PE14, PE34.

From the 2019/20 to 2023/24 Cold Weather Payment seasons, the above postcode areas are covered by various weather stations. These weather stations cover the following postcode areas, in Table 1, which include areas not in South Holland. Table 2 shows the number of cold weather payments to pensioners by weather station and cold weather season.

Table 1: Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations

Weather station

Postcode Districts Covered

Marham

CB6-7, IP24-28, PE12-14, PE30-38.

Waddington

DN9-10, DN15-22, DN31-41, LN1-13, NG23-24, PE10-11, PE20-25.

Wittering

LE15, NN14-18, PE1-9, PE15-16, PE26-29

Table 2: Number of Cold Weather Payments to pensioners by weather station and Cold Weather Season

Weather Station

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

Marham

0

10,000

0

27,000

9,000

Waddington

0

26,000

0

23,000

0

Wittering

0

10,000

0

24,000

0

b) The area of South Kesteven covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PE6, PE9, PE10, NG23, NG31, NG32, NG33, NG34.

From the 2019/20 to 2023/24 Cold Weather Payment seasons, the above postcode areas are covered by various weather stations. These weather stations cover the following postcode areas, in Table 3, which include areas not in South Kesteven. Table 4 shows the number of cold weather payments to pensioners by weather station and cold weather season.

Table 3: Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations

Weather station

Postcode Districts Covered

Nottingham Watnall

CV13, DE1-3, DE5-7, DE11-15, DE21-24, DE55-56, DE65, DE72-75, LE1-9, LE11-14, LE16-19, LE65, LE67, NG1-22, NG25, NG31-34.

Waddington

DN9-10, DN15-22, DN31-41, LN1-13, NG23-24, PE10-11, PE20-25.

Wittering

LE15, NN14-18, PE1-9, PE15-16, PE26-29

Table 4: Number of Cold Weather Payments to pensioners by weather station and Cold Weather Season

Weather Station

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

Nottingham Watnall

0

60,000

0

55,000

0

Waddington

0

26,000

0

23,000

0

Wittering

0

10,000

0

24,000

0


Written Question
Sportsgrounds: Lincolnshire
Thursday 18th April 2024

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 with Cabinet colleagues to help improve the quality of sports fields in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to delivering top class sports facilities across the country, so that everyone can take part in sport and physical activity. As part of this commitment, the Government is delivering an historic level of direct investment to build or upgrade thousands of grassroots sport facilities across the UK.

Between 2021 and 2025, the UK Government is delivering investment of over £400 million to build or upgrade thousands of grassroots facilities across the UK, including multi-sport pitches, tennis courts, and swimming pools and leisure centres.

Since 2021, South Holland and the Deepings has received investment of £600,149 from the Football Foundation across four projects, including a new artificial grass pitch at Holbeach United Community Sports Academy. All projects can be viewed here on gov.uk.

South Holland and the Deepings has also received £102,251 from the Park Tennis Court Renovation Programme (co-funded by the Government and the Lawn Tennis Association) for Ayscoughfee Gardens and £29,651 from our Swimming Pool Support Fund for Castle Sports Centre and Swimming Pool.

Overall, Lincolnshire has received £1,258,322 from the Football Foundation. Lincolnshire has also received £169,027 from the Park Tennis Court Renovation Programme and £492,261 from the Swimming Pool Support Fund.


Written Question
UK Research and Innovation: Colonialism
Thursday 18th April 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many UK Research and Innovation projects have (a) titles and (b) subjects containing (i) decolonisation, (ii) colonialism, (iii) colonial and (iv) decolonising since 2019.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

These terms are used across a range of research areas and have different meanings, from the humanities and societal sciences, to biological sciences and microbial research.

The following data is sourced from Gateway to Research (https://gtr.ukri.org/), which supplies information about research and innovation projects and organisations funded by UKRI.

Of approximately 37,000 active projects initiated from 2019 onwards: 77 had titles referring to ‘Decolonisation/Decolonising’, 12 had titles referring to ‘Colonialism’ and 61 had titles mentioning the word ‘Colonial’.


Written Question
Trastuzumab Deruxtecan
Tuesday 16th April 2024

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 NICE is taking steps to make Enhertu available to the National Health Service to treat incurable HER2-low secondary breast cancer.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing guidance for the National Health Service on whether Enhertu can be recommended for routine NHS funding, based on an assessment of the costs and benefits. The NICE was unfortunately unable to recommend Enhertu as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources in its final draft guidance published on 5 March 2024. Stakeholders have had an opportunity to appeal against the NICE’s draft recommendations, and the NICE will consider any appeals through the established process, and will publish final guidance in due course.


Written Question
Shoplifting: Rural Areas
Tuesday 16th April 2024

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, whether he has had recent discussions with the police on taking steps to help tackle shoplifting in rural areas.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises the significant impact shoplifting has on businesses, communities, and consumers. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 48% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.

However, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 32% in the 12 months to September 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting offences has risen by 34% in the year ending September 2023, showing that police are taking action.

We have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime, including shoplifting.

In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.

This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender, including shoplifting.

October also saw the launch of Pegasus, a unique private-public partnership, which involves retailers providing data, intelligence and evidence to Opal, the national police intelligence unit on organised acquisitive crime, to develop a better strategic picture and help forces crack down on serious offenders.

The Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, which highlights five areas of work this Government will drive forward to tackle retail crime:

  • Introducing a standalone offence for assaults on retail workers;
  • Additional electronic monitoring for prolific shoplifters;
  • Working with police and businesses to roll out the latest facial recognition to catch these perpetrators;
  • Championing good practice to design out crime; and
  • Making it easier for retailers to report crime.

This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan.

We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which meets on a quarterly basis, to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.


Written Question
Employment Schemes: Young People
Tuesday 16th April 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many starts have been recorded for the Youth Offer in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire as of 25 March 2024.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Youth Offer launched 20 September 2020 and provides support for 16–24-year-olds who are on Universal Credit to help them move into employment. It includes three elements:

  • The Youth Employment Programme, which provides young people dedicated intensive Work Coach support in finding & applying for jobs, with additional assistance available for those who have recently begun their Universal Credit claim.
  • Youth Hubs, which bring together in one location DWP services with local support provided by youth experts. This ensures that the needs of young people are matched to services that help them tackle barriers to employment.
  • Youth Employability Coaches, who are focused on supporting young people furthest from the labour market overcome complex challenges so that they can move into work.

As of the 1st of March 2024, there have been 1,200 starts to the Youth Offer in South Holland and The Deepings constituency, and a total of 17,420 starts in the Lincolnshire region. These figures are part of the overall 1,123,000 total starts on the Youth Offer.

Notes

  1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
  2. The figure for Lincolnshire is the combined figure for each of the following local authorities; Boston, East Lindsey, Lincoln, North East Lincolnshire, North Kesteven, North Lincolnshire, South Holland, South Kesteven and West Lindsey.
  3. A claimant may take part in multiple elements of the Youth Offer. They may start any element of the Youth Offer multiple times. Each of these starts is recorded as a start on the Youth Offer.

Written Question
Farmers: Lincolnshire
Tuesday 16th April 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the number of payments made to farmers by the Rural Payments Agency in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) South Holland and the Deepings constituency in each of the last five years.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The RPA has made over 21,094 payments in Lincolnshire and 2,205 in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency, over the last 5 years across the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship (CS), Environmental Stewardship (ES) schemes and Grants.

To Note: Both tables include the number claims paid in the scheme year for BPS, CS Revenue, CS Capital, ES, SFI and Grants. This is not at unique customer level and therefore a customer may have received a payment from multiple schemes – which answers the “number of payments to customers” ask.

Lincolnshire

South Holland and the Deepings

Scheme Year

Total

Scheme Year

Total

Volume

Volume

2019

3,929

2019

423

2020

3,969

2020

421

2021

4,221

2021

442

2022

4,565

2022

463

2023

4,410

2023

456


Written Question
Disability: East Midlands
Tuesday 16th April 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of the working age population who are disabled in (a) the East Midlands and (b) Lincolnshire.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is given in the table below.

Number and percentage of disabled people aged 16 to 64, 2022/2023

Geographical area

Number of working age disabled people

Percentage of working age people who are disabled

East Midlands

720,200

24.5%

Lincolnshire

129,300

29.7%

Source – table LMS008

  • Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred and percentages to one decimal place
  • Numbers shown are central estimates and subject to sampling variation. The precision of these estimates will be limited by sample size.
  • Annual Population Survey data has not been reweighted to incorporate the latest estimates of the size and composition of the UK population.


Written Question
Fly-tipping: Rural Areas
Tuesday 16th April 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to help tackle fly tipping in rural areas.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We appreciate the difficulty that fly-tipping poses to landowners. We are working with stakeholders, such as the National Farmers Union and local authorities, through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to share good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land.

As part of the government’s commitment to unleash rural opportunity, we are currently funding a post within the new National Rural Crime Unit to explore how the police’s role in tacking fly-tipping can be optimised, with a focus on rural areas.

Across two rounds of our fly-tipping grant scheme, we have awarded nearly £1.2m to help more than 30 councils tackle fly-tipping at known hot-spots, including in rural areas, such as by installing CCTV. Round three is currently in progress and should see a further £1 million handed out in the spring to help even more councils tackle fly-tipping.


Written Question
NHS England: Equality
Monday 15th April 2024

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 people are employed by NHS England in roles relating to equality, diversity and inclusivity as of 26 March 2024.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are 51 staff with equality, diversity, or inclusion in their job title at NHS England, as of 26 February 2024. This covers a wide range of roles both supporting NHS England as an employer, and facing the wider National Health Service system, with some of these roles also covering other areas of NHS policy. NHS England has reduced the number of roles focused on equality, diversity and inclusion as part of its merger with NHS Digital and Health Education England. The roles that remain are essential to helping the NHS meet its legal duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the principles that guide the NHS Constitution. This includes overseeing statutory programmes that are focused on tackling discrimination by some staff which includes disabled staff, as well as roles dealing with the sexual safety of staff and patients in the NHS.