Written questions by Hayes.

What steps he is taking to support children's hospices in Lincolnshire.

We recognise that access to high-quality, personalised palliative care can make all the difference for seriously ill children and their families.Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB), including NHS Lincolnshire ICB, must commission.Whilst the majority of palliative care and end-of-life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including children and young people’s hospices, also play in providing support to seriously ill children at the end of life and their loved ones.Children and young people’s hospices received £26 million in revenue funding in 2025/26. This was a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the Children’s Hospice Grant. From this funding, Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People in Loughborough, and Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice, which serve Lincolnshire, received £1,462,000 and £673,000 respectively.In 2025/26, we announced the continuation of this funding for a further three financial years. This funding will see at least £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, covering 2026/27 to 2028/29, amounting to approximately £80 million over the three-year period.Children and young people’s hospices and ICBs have recently been informed of their allocations for 2026/27 although we are not yet in a position to share those individual allocations publicly. Communication regarding future allocations, for 2027/28 and 2028/29, will be sent once the 2026/27 process is complete.We also supported both the children and young people, and adult, hospice sectors with a £125 million capital funding boost to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. From that funding stream, Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People in Loughborough, and Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice received £740,169 and £410,308 respectively in total.For the long-term, the Government is developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care for England, with a planned publication date of autumn 2026. Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, and we will also consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of this work.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Land Use Framework on Best and Most Versatile farmland in Lincolnshire.

The National Planning Policy Framework safeguards the best and most versatile land, which is the land most valuable for food production. Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

How many businesses were found guilty of employing illegal workers, and how much were they fined in 2025.

Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Enforcement Transparency Data. This can be found at immigration-enforcement-data-oct-dec-2025 on tab CP02.This publication covers the period up to 31 December 2025 and includes both limited companies and sole traders.

If he will make an estimate of the number of operations (a) cancelled and (b) delayed for longer than one month as a result of industrial action by resident doctors in (i) 2024 and (ii) 2025.

The Department does not hold data centrally on the number of operations cancelled or delayed for longer than one month specifically as a result of industrial action by resident doctors.NHS England routinely publishes information on postponed inpatient and outpatient appointments during periods of industrial action, and this information will be published in due course. Further information will be available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/preparedness-for-potential-industrial-action-in-the-nhs/#heading-3

What estimate he has made of the number of renewable energy projects awaiting grid connection in (1) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (2) Lincolnshire.

Information on projects holding connection agreements is available at TEC Register | National Energy System Operator for transmission projects and, for distribution projects, at National Grid - Embedded capacity register (Central and Southern Lincolnshire) and Northern Powergrid - Embedded capacity register (Northern Lincolnshire). Data is categorised by grid connection point, not geographic location of generation projects.

Whether his Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The Ministry of Defence has not paid for followers on its social media platforms.

How many reports of suspected price gouging for the price of heating oil have been made to the Competition and Markets Authority since 28 February 2026.

The Government does not hold figures on individual reports made to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). However, the CMA has recently announced that it has stepped up monitoring of fuel markets across the UK in response to the economic impacts of the conflict in Iran. Where the CMA identifies concerning behaviour, it has committed to reporting on this publicly and taking further action as appropriate. The Chancellor and I met with regulators including the CMA on 26 March and confirmed that we will not hesitate to empower regulators if necessary to tackle exploitation of the Iran conflict.

Whether legal advice has been received in regard to an Atomic Weapons Establishment report that claimed fallout data affecting British troops had been covered up.

The Government is deeply grateful to all those who participated in the UK nuclear testing programme. We recognise their service and the huge contribution they made to the UK’s security. We remain committed to listening to their concerns and are working collaboratively to address them. I reiterated the government’s approach on working with the nuclear test veterans community in the debate in the House on 25 March and made a commitment to undertake work to fully understand the implications of the 2014 report and its handling, and to take action if necessary.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, on what dates (a) she and (b) Ministers in her Department held discussions with their United States' counterparts on the Board of Peace.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ministers speak to their US counterparts on a regular basis on a range of issues, including the implementation of the Gaza Peace Plan.

Whether her Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The Department has not paid for followers on any of its social media platforms.

Whether murder victims are posthumously (a) drug and (b) alcohol tested as a matter of routine.

Forensic post-mortems follow the Code of Practice issued by the Home Office, the Royal College of Pathologists and the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland, which requires toxicology samples to be taken and preserved where necessary. If samples are not taken and an issue later arises (for example, at trial), it may be difficult to obtain usable material. Whether samples are submitted for analysis depends on the circumstances of the case and local police and coroner policies and decisions. Drug and alcohol testing is usually commissioned where it may help establish the cause of death or support the investigation.

What steps she has taken to to tackle county lines gangs targeting children to act as drug runners.

The Government is committed to halving knife crime and tackling violent and exploitative county lines gangs is crucial to achieving this. That is why we are investing more than £34 million in 26/27 in the County Lines Programme, to pursue violent line holders and safeguard children and vulnerable people.The success and impact of the County Lines Programme is clear. Since July 2024, the Programme has resulted in more than 3,000 deal lines closed, 8,200 arrests, (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,600 deal line holders), 4,300 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 900 knives seized. More than 620 children and young people have also received dedicated specialist support through our county lines support service in the same period.Independent evaluation of the Programme has shown it is having a significant impact, reducing hospitalisations due to knife stabbings by 25% and drug misuse hospitalisations by 29% in the Programme taskforce areas. The latest Strategic Assessment by the National County Lines Coordination Centre also shows that the number of children involved in county lines has reduced by 17% since 22/23.As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we have also introduced a new offence of criminal exploitation of children in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring young people into violence and crime. As part of this legislation, we are delivering new civil preventative orders to disrupt and prevent child criminal exploitation from occurring or re-occurring.

Whether her Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The Home Office does not, and has not paid for followers on its social media platforms.

Whether her Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The department has not paid for followers on its social media platforms.

What steps she is taking to tackle online content encouraging people to pursue fraudulent benefits claims.

The unscrupulous people who actively try to promote, encourage, or assist in fraud must not be tolerated and these people must face consequences. Offences under the Fraud Act 2006 can carry a maximum sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment. This includes offences such as making or supplying articles for use in fraud, including electronic materials where the person knows or intends that the information will be used to commit fraud – for example, the deliberate sale or distribution of fraud instruction manuals online. We already work with partners, including Action Fraud, the City of London Police and the National Cyber Security Centre to prevent fraudulent activity online and DWP monitor social media platforms regularly. Additionally, Ofcom’s first Online Safety Codes of Practice sets out an expectation that large services at medium or high risk of fraud provide DWP with access to a dedicated channel for reporting fraud. Under the Online Safety Act 2023, social media companies now have a legal duty to remove illegal content, including fraudulent material.

Whether his Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The Ministry of Justice has not paid for followers on its social media platforms.

Whether his Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The Department has not paid for followers on the social media platforms it uses.

Whether her Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

HM Treasury does not pay for followers on any social media platforms.

Whether his Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The department has not paid for followers on any of the social media platforms it uses.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The department has not paid for followers on its social media platforms.