Written questions by Hayes.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing funding for palliative care services in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, including the NHS Lincolnshire ICB, which covers the South Holland and The Deepings constituency. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative care and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of palliative care and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I am pleased to confirm the continuation of circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, for the next three financial years, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive, to be distributed again via ICBs. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.More widely, the Department and NHS England are currently looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

What measures her Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

The Department has a range of alternative means of communication, including telephony, and manual processes to facilitate business critical work and maintain operational continuity in the event of loss of internet connection over cellular and/or fixed line networks. The citizen and business facing services provided by our executive agencies are available via telephone, mail or via the Post Office.

Communities and Local Government, what measures his Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

Providing critical services in the event of a major internet outage requires that the department has suitable technology solutions in place, that services are well designed and governed, recovery requirements are assessed and they are aligned with business continuity plans. The department has tested plans in place to keep the department functioning in response to the most serious risks facing the UK, including those that could come about as a result of a significant loss of power, like a major internet outage. As part of wider resilience planning in government, MHCLG works with local partners on resilient communication methods which support contact in the event of a power or internet outage.

What measures his Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has established a Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) that is designed to ensure the continuity of departmental critical services in the event of a major disruption. Our BCMS aligns with industry best practice and is subject to regular review and testing.

What measures her Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

In preparation for potential major incidents, the department has undertaken Business Impact Assessments across all critical assets. These assessments have informed the development of Business Continuity Plans (BCPs), which outline the procedures and contingencies necessary to maintain essential services during such incidents. These plans are regularly reviewed and tested to ensure operational resilience and continuity of service delivery.To further strengthen response capabilities, the department’s Central Major Incident and Cyber Incident team is equipped to manage such events end-to-end. In parallel to BCPs, Disaster Recovery Strategies are in place to restore affected services swiftly, minimising downtime and ensuring operational continuity.

What steps his Department plans to take to ensure that critical services continue to run in the event of a major internet outage.

Government has a robust set of policies in place to ensure there are well-defined and tested incident management processes in place, and to ensure continuity of essential functions in the event of system or service failure. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter, which will set out a clear approach for the Government and the Wider Public Sector to manage cyber security and resilience incidents.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission on (a) employment and (b) economic growth in Lincolnshire.

The Secretary of State for the Department of Business and Trade, Peter Kyle, visited China from 10-11 September to co-chair the first UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission since 2018 and the UK-China Industrial Cooperation Dialogue. The visit delivered over £1bn of market access wins over 5 years, across multiple sectors, including the signing of a Pet Food Protocol which will support British businesses with access to the Chinese market. DBT, DEFRA, and the British Embassy in Beijing, continue to work with the Chinese authorities to expand access to the Chinese market for British business.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether overseas aid provided to the Safe Abortion Action Fund has been given to Las Libres since 2022.

The UK provides overseas aid to the Safe Abortion Action Fund (SAAF), which works to expand access to legal, safe and life-saving abortion services in low- and middle-income countries. SAAF is a pooled fund which supports a number of partners globally, details of which can be found on its website.

Food and Rural Affairs, what measures her Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

The Government has a robust set of policies in place to ensure there are well-defined and tested incident management processes in place, and to ensure continuity of essential functions in the event of system or service failure. In line with these policies, these arrangements are regularly tested to maintain organisational resilience and ensure readiness to manage significant disruptions effectively. Defra undergoes Cyber Assessment Framework assessments annually and uses the results of these assessments and lessons learned from exercises/testing to help minimise the likelihood, impact, or time and cost of recovery of critical services. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter, which will set out a clear approach for the Government and the Wider Public Sector to manage cyber security and resilience incidents.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what measures her Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has established business continuity and IT service continuity arrangements to sustain critical services during severe disruption, including a major internet outage. For security reasons, the department does not publish operational details of its resilience arrangements.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that critical services continue to operate in the event of a major internet outage.

DCMS has established business continuity and IT service continuity arrangements to sustain critical services during severe disruption, including a major internet outage. The business continuity function works closely with key stakeholders to regularly test arrangements across a range of scenarios.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocations to Lincolnshire since 2023.

UKSPF provides a total of £3.5 billion of funding for local investment over four years (2022-26), with all places in the UK receiving an allocation via a funding formula. The funding methodologies for the periods 2022-25 and 2025-26 are published on gov.uk. Changes were made to the English allocation methodology for 2025-26 to support mayoral combined authorities with capital for early development of local growth plans and local priority investments, as well as targeting places with the highest levels of deprivation. The county of Lincolnshire received a total of £34.7m (including a £1.97m Multiply allocation) across 2022-25 and a further £14.8m of UKSPF funding for 2025-26 through the newly established Greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority to deliver interventions in line with their local priorities.

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of available bus routes for people accessing hospital appointments in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The Government knows how important affordable and reliable bus services are in enabling people to access vital services, such as local hospitals, and we are committed to delivering better bus services right across the country, including in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire. The Government’s Bus Services (No.2) Bill puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including ensuring access to vital local services such as hospitals. The Bill includes a measure on socially necessary services so that local authorities and bus operators have to have regard for alternatives to changing or cancelling services. As part of the Autumn 2024 Budget, the Government allocated over £1 billion to support and improve bus services in 2025/26 and keep fares affordable. This includes £712 million for local authorities that can be used to expand services and improve reliability, which are currently massive obstacles for too many people. Lincolnshire County Council has been allocated £11.9 million of this funding. Funding allocated to local authorities to deliver better bus services can be used in whichever way they wish to improve services for passengers, including improving access to hospitals in South Holland and the Deepings constituency, and across Lincolnshire. The Government reaffirmed its commitment to investing in bus services long-term in this Spending Review, confirming additional funding per year from 2026/27 to maintain and improve bus services, including taking forward franchising pilots and extending the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027.

What measures her Department has in place to continue to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

The Home Office has in place a range of measures to continue to run critical services in the event of major internet outages.This includes critical incident, crisis and business continuity plans depending on the nature of the outage and what is impacted. It would not be appropriate to document the specific detail of those measures.

Innovation and Technology, what measures the Government Digital Service has in place to continue to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) builds resilient critical services by operating these across multiple locations or dispersed geographies.This underlying redundancy reduces the chance of a major outage impacting service availability.  GDS uses third-party products to build and operate our services, these are covered by contractual service-level agreements.Whilst GDS depends on the overall stability of internet networks and availability of key providers, both service teams and the organisation actively manage business continuity plans in consideration of these factors and our technical systems and operations.

How many full time equivalent employees at the National Crime Agency are working on cases relating to group-based child sexual exploitation.

The NCA is helping to tackle the heinous crime of Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse through its work overseeing Operation Beaconport in collaboration with policing and conducting Operation Stovewood on behalf of South Yorkshire Police. Resource allocation is rightfully a matter for the NCA as an operationally independent organisation.Operation Beaconport, which has already begun, is part of the government’s response to recommendations from Baroness Casey’s Independent Audit and will enable us to ensure that past failures are addressed, justice is delivered, best practice is shared, and that we equip the system to deal with complex cases effectively.Operation Stovewood is the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child sexual exploitation and abuse in the UK. The operation is paid for by South Yorkshire, who are supported by the department through Police Special Grant for this operation.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle the sources of littering in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

Local councils are responsible for keeping public land clear of litter and refuse and are best placed to respond to littering problems, in a way that is tailored to the community in which they occur. They have a range of enforcement tools at their disposal, including fixed penalty notices of up to £500 and prosecution action which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £2500. The Pride in Place Strategy sets out how Government will support local action by bringing forward statutory enforcement guidance on both littering and fly-tipping, modernising the code of practice that outlines the cleaning standards expected of local authorities, and refreshing best practice guidance on the powers available to local authorities to force land and building owners to clean up their premises. The Countryside Code makes clear visitors’ responsibilities in protecting the environment when accessing the outdoors. It includes the important headline message “Take your litter home – leave no trace of your visit”. The team at Natural England continue to work with partners to help amplify the messaging, including Keep Britain Tidy and National Highways.

How many full time equivalent employees in his Department are working on tackling (a) benefit fraud and (b) error.

As civil servants, it is our duty to ensure that public funds are spent appropriately and deliver public services that represent value for the taxpayer. Fraud against the welfare system negatively impacts public services and taxpayers as it draws funds away from those who need them most. Within DWP, tackling fraud and error is everybody’s business, from Work Coaches in our Jobcentres through to Service Centre colleagues and as such, separating out the resource and costs spent on preventing and detecting fraud amongst these varying job roles is not feasible.

What measures his Department has in place to continue to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

The Government has a robust set of policies in place to ensure there are well-defined and tested incident management processes, and to ensure continuity of essential functions in the event of system or service failure. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter, which will set out a clear approach for the Government and the Wider Public Sector to manage cyber security and resilience incidents.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many times (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers in her Department have met with abortion providers since July 2024.

All ministerial meetings with external organisations, and relevant Special Adviser meetings, are published in the usual way on gov.uk.