Written questions by Hayes.

What the cost to the public purse is of contracts his Department has signed with companies in relation to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

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.

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.

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.

How many and what proportion of criminal trials involved a jury in each of the last ten years.

Only 3% of all cases were heard by a jury in the year to June 2025. This is based on the number of not guilty pleas as a proportion of all cases for trial, excluding Single Justice Procedure cases. Over 90% of criminal cases are heard in the magistrates’ courts without juries.The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes information concerning the volume of trials at the criminal courts as part of Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly which can be found here: Criminal Court Statistics - GOV.UK.

How many people have been (a) arrested and (b) convicted in relation to the sale of illegal vape products in each of the last five years.

The data requested is not held by the Home Office.The Home Office collect and publishes data on arrests as part of the Police Powers and Procedures statistical series, available here: Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UKHowever, data is collected by broader offence group and for notifiable offences only, therefore data on arrests for the sale of illegal vapes is not available.Convictions is a matter for the Ministry of Justice.

What data his Department holds on cancer diagnosis wait times in South Holland and the Deepings in the last five years.

The Department does not hold this data, although published data from NHS England is available from 2022 for the cancer waiting time standards, at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/Cancer waiting times data can be broken down by integrated care board or National Health Service trust, however, this data is not available by constituency. The local NHS trusts for the South Holland and the Deepings constituency are North West Anglia, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn, and United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals.

How many and what proportion of patients in (1) Lincolnshire and (2) England have waited for (a) 90 and (b) 150 days for brain tumour test results in each of the last three years.

NHS England publishes waiting time data from referral to being informed of a cancer diagnosis or having it ruled out for brain and central nervous system. This is the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard. This includes the waiting time data for patients in Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board and in England.This data is publicly available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/

Innovation and Technology, whether her Department is monitoring the number of ID-linked data breaches following the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the application of data protection legislation in the UK. As the independent regulator of the Online Safety Act (OSA), Ofcom may refer matters to the ICO if it has concerns that a provider has not complied with its obligations under data protection law. The ICO has several powers under the data protection legislation to tackle the unlawful processing of personal data, including the power to serve substantial civil monetary penalties for serious breaches of the legislation. Details of the ICO’s enforcement activity can be found on its website.

How many (1) individuals and (2) organisations have been (a) investigated and (b) prosecuted for fraud in relation to COVID-19 funds since 2020.

HMRC have interpreted ‘COVID-19 funds’ as the ‘HMRC administered COVID-19 support schemes’, including Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO), the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) (previously the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy until 2023) administered Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS). Although you have requested the data be broken down into individuals and organisations, HMRC do not hold the data at that level of detail. SEISS claims relate to individuals, whereas CJRS involves payroll, however, CJRS may also fall within the Income Tax (IT) or Corporation Tax (CT) regime. To add complexity, all charges for recovery of overpayments on the HMRC schemes are raised under IT legislation. By the end of March 2025, HMRC had opened 53 criminal investigations into suspected fraud within the schemes and made a total of 99 arrests. There have been 4 convictions so far. Further ongoing criminal investigation activity has yet to be concluded within the criminal justice system and is subject to those timescales. In this timeframe, HMRC also carried out more than 47,000 compliance checks using civil powers, where the amount claimed was out of step with other information. The risk that the claim was incorrect may have been due to a range of reasons from an honest mistake through to fraud.DBT has worked with enforcement partners to tackle fraud linked to COVID-19 loan schemes. This includes the National Investigation Service (NATIS) and the Insolvency Service (INSS). To date, the Insolvency Service has obtained disqualifications against 2,595 directors, bankruptcy restrictions against 381 individuals and 82 successful criminal convictions in respect of COVID-19 financial support scheme misconduct. The Agency has also helped to secure more than £6 million in compensation related to COVID-19 financial support scheme abuse. Since 2020, NATIS has opened a total of 254 investigations covering both individuals and organisations. NATIS has secured 14 convictions up to November 2025.

Innovation and Technology, how many websites have been blocked by Internet service providers for failure to comply with the Online Safety Act 2023.

As the independent regulator for online safety, Ofcom is responsible for enforcing the Online Safety Act.Ofcom has a range of strong enforcement powers. These include imposing fines of up to £18 million, or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, and in the most severe cases, applying to the courts to initiate business disruption measures.Ofcom is actively enforcing the regime, and we are clear that they have our full backing to take whatever action is necessary to keep people safe online. Ofcom continues to monitor compliance and publish updates on enforcement activity.

What data her Department holds on school attendance rates in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in the last five years.

The department publishes figures from the school census on pupil absence in England on a termly basis. The most recent published data relates to the autumn and spring terms of the 2024/25 academic year, and the latest full academic year is 2023/24, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/.The published data includes absence rates by local authority and school. School level data includes identifiers that can be used to link the parliamentary constituency for the school using the ‘Get Information About Schools’ website, which is available here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.The latest absence release has been available since 23 October 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many vehicles were seized for fly-tipping offences in Lincolnshire in each of the last five years.

Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping enforcement actions, including vehicles seized, to Defra, which are published annually here. This data is not available at a constituency level. Data for the 2024/25 reporting year is still being collected. The Environment Agency works with local authorities and other partners through the Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership (ECP). The ECP has targeted “days of action” to tackle fly-tipping, with various sanctions available – including vehicle seizure – to prevent, disrupt and tackle waste related offences.

What steps she is taking to support the road haulage industry in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

National support for the road haulage industry includes joint investment with industry in lorry parking and driver welfare facilities of up to £35.7m, including Lincolnshire. This is in addition to up to £30 million joint investment by National Highways and industry to improve lorry parking on the strategic road network. Further National Highways funding is planned for the third road investment strategy (RIS3) as part of the Customer and Community Designated Funds, subject to confirmation of National Highways’ RIS3 settlement. Support for the sector’s decarbonisation includes the Plug-in Truck Grant which provides a contribution to the upfront purchase costs of zero emission vehicles, the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) programme, which is now closed to new applicants, but is providing up to £200m to fund hundreds of ZE HGVs and their associated recharging and refuelling sites and the Depot Charging Scheme which closes on the 28 November 2025, and will support HGV, van and coach fleet operators with the cost of installing charging infrastructure at depot sites. Qualifying Operators in Lincolnshire have had the opportunity to apply for national schemes.

How many people use the Motability scheme in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

At the end of July 2025 (latest available data), 1,240 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in South Holland and The Deepings constituency, and 9,510 PIP claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in Lincolnshire. Data about Motability receipt based on other benefits such as Disability Living Allowance is not available centrally for analysis. Notes:- Values have been rounded to the nearest 10.- Figures provided include both Normal Rules and Special Rules for End of Life claimants.

Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with stakeholders on improving access to all weather football pitches in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

The Government’s recent announcement of £400 million to be invested in grassroots sports facilities across the UK over the next four years will ensure we can continue to deliver high-quality grass, artificial grass pitches and other multi-sport facilities in the areas that require them, in order to increase participation and allow people to be active. Following this announcement, we have been working in collaboration with the sports sector and local leaders to develop plans for delivering future funding. We want to ensure these plans take a place-based approach to investment, using regional expertise across the country to deliver in line with demand in each area. Plans for future funding programmes will be confirmed in due course.

How many and what proportion of stop and searches resulted in the seizure of (a) Class A drugs and (b) Class B drugs in each of the last three years.

The data requested is not held centrally.The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of stop and searches for drugs. The latest data is available here: Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UKHowever, data on the class of drug searched for is not collected, nor is information on the type of drugs seized following a stop and search.

What steps she is taking to support local enforcement action against antisocial vehicle use in Lincolnshire.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles in anti-social behaviour with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.The Government has consulted on proposals to allow the police to dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially quicker. The consultation closed on 8 July and we will publish the outcome in due course.Combined, our measures will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially in Lincolnshire by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated

Whether his Department plans to increase the availability of defibrillators in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

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.

What steps his Department is taking to increase access to specialist wheelchairs for children in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services.The Lincolnshire ICB and Lincolnshire County Council jointly commission an all-age wheelchair service. To support access to specialist wheelchairs, the Lincolnshire wheelchair service has a close working relationship with bespoke seating services who support with wheelchair fittings and assessments. In addition, the service also operates a personal wheelchair budget option that supports the provision of equipment outside of the standard service and that helps assess the equipment sourced to make sure it is appropriate and meets the patient’s needs.NHS England is taking steps to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of National Health Service wheelchairs, and to support ICBs to reduce delays in people receiving intervention and equipment. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on the 9 April 2025 which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets. The framework is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/

What steps he is taking to support patients with pulmonary fibrosis in Lincolnshire.

It is for the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board, working closely with National Health Service providers and other stakeholders, to commission services to meet the needs to their population and deliver value for the taxpayer.I understand that a range of services, across primary and secondary care, are in place in Lincolnshire to support the diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with pulmonary fibrosis, including at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

What steps his Department is taking to support community based preventative services for elderly people in Lincolnshire.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service. The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a person’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary.We have launched wave one 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, and which could include services for elderly people. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities such as Lincolnshire, coastal towns, or deprived inner cities.