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 women in South Holland and the Deepings constituency are in receipt of Pension Credit.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The latest Pension Credit caseload statistics show that as of August 2025, there were 1,698 female recipients of Pension Credit in South Holland and the Deepings. This data is available via: DWP Stat-Xplore.
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, whether her Department has held discussions with the Home Office on the increased use of Virtual Private Networks by criminals following the introduction of the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Making the UK a safer place to be online is a priority for the Government, and the Online Safety Act is central to this. Officials from DSIT and the Home Office meet regularly to discuss the implementation of the Act and wider online safety issues.
While there is currently no evidence that VPNs are being used more by criminals following the introduction of the Act, the Government continues to monitor the impact of circumvention techniques on the online environment. VPNs also have legitimate uses including protecting users’ privacy and supporting secure access to services.
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 civil servants hired by his Department were recruited over another person on the basis of a protected characteristic in each of the last three years.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence does not recruit candidates on the basis of protected characteristics. All appointments are made on merit, in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. Compliance with these principles is overseen by the independent Civil Service Commission. Civil Service recruitment is governed by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, which requires that all appointments to the Civil Service are made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.
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 much Innovate UK funding has been awarded to organisations based in Lincolnshire in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Innovate UK’s grant funding database shows that during the most recent three full financial years, Innovate UK offered £26.8 million in grant awards to organisations registered in Lincolnshire. This is broken down by financial year as follows:
Financial year | Committed funding |
2022/23 | £11,783,553 |
2023/24 | £8,618,065 |
2024/25 | £6,444,029 |
Total | £26,845,647 |
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, if she will take steps to ensure that forced marriages do not take place in Sharia councils in the UK.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), provides support and advice to victims, those at risk, and professionals.
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, whether any civil servants hired by her Department were recruited over another person on the basis of a protected characteristic in each of the last three years.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Civil Service recruitment must follow the rules set out in legislation within the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010, which outlines the requirements to ensure that civil servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition.
Compliance with CRaGA is overseen by the independent Civil Service Commission, which publishes Recruitment Principles setting out the detailed rules departments must follow.
For departments who use Civil Service Jobs to manage their recruitment, applicants are asked to provide diversity data on a voluntary basis only and no details are shared with hiring managers.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department has spent on special severance payments in each of the last three years.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The number and cost of special severance payments made by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in each financial year are routinely published in the department's annual report and accounts. The most recently published annual report and accounts are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025
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 people aged 17 have applied to join the police in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on the number of individuals aged 17 years old who have applied to join the police service.
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 steps her Department is taking to help protect seabirds from offshore energy infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Offshore wind developers must show how they will avoid and mitigate impacts on protected seabirds, and provide compensatory measures where impacts remain. Within this context, the government is delivering the Offshore Wind Environmental Improvement Package to de-risk and accelerate offshore wind consenting whilst protecting marine habitats and species, including seabirds. The package includes developing environmental standards, establishing a Marine Recovery Fund to deliver compensation at a strategic level and a strategic, ecosystem- based monitoring framework to strengthen understanding of environmental impacts on vulnerable bird species.
We have also established a Seabird Conservation Coordination Group, comprising government, experts, environmental NGOs and industry representation. This group is helping to coordinate, monitor and drive delivery of actions for seabirds across our programmes of work in England. We are working with devolved governments on next steps, as they implement their respective seabird conservation strategies.
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, if she will publish a list of serving police officers by nationality for each of the last ten years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on the nationality of police officers.