Written questions by Hayes.

What steps her Department is taking to help improve access to employment opportunities for disabled people in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care. As well as these initiatives, in Spalding, we support learning disabled and neurodiverse customers alongside partner organisations that we work closely with and have led and co-created the learning pathway for all sites in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland to have Neuro Diversity champions. We liaise with Local Supported Employment (Showcase), a DWP funded programme led by Lincolnshire County Council. The Jobcentre also works closely with an employment agency working specifically with those who are Autistic and looking for work, mainly within project-based roles that can be done from home. There is also excellent links with over 20 Disability Confident Employers, and other partners including: Adult ADHD Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire Autistic Society.

For what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country. I am keen to adopt AI across the Department and my officials are in the process of exploring options. For example, the Wales Office Human Resources and Private Office teams are looking at how ‘Microsoft Copilot’ could be used to streamline processes.

What steps he is taking to fund provisions for addiction support services in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department provides funding to support drug and alcohol services. In 2024/25 a total of £3,620,918 was allocated to Lincolnshire. This included £2,090,974 for the Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery grant, £576,326 for the Housing Support Grant, £624,808 for the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant, £121,398 for the Inpatient Detoxification Grant, and £207,412 for the Individual Placement and Support Grant, for employment support. Future targeted funding for drug and alcohol treatment services beyond 2025 will be announced shortly.Drug and alcohol use is challenging in any community, including in rural areas, where ensuring easy access to treatment and support can be more of a challenge. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services, by assessing the local need for treatment and commissioning a range of services and interventions to meet that need.The Government is providing £70 million of additional funding for local authority-led Stop Smoking Services in England in 2024/25, building on existing funding made available via the Public Health Grant. The Government will also provide a further £70 million of funding for Stop Smoking Services in 2025/26. Allocations of additional funding for Stop Smoking Services are based on the number and proportion of smokers in each local authority. Lincolnshire will be allocated £1,140,181 for 2025/26.In April, the Government will introduce a new statutory levy on gambling operators, providing up to £100 million each year to fund the research, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harms across Great Britain.

What steps his Department is taking to improve provision of post-natal mental health care in Lincolnshire.

Significant progress across England has been made in recent years to ensure that women experiencing moderate to severe perinatal mental health problems can access specialist perinatal mental health services for up to two years after giving birth. This includes Mother and Baby Units, such as the one in Lincolnshire, maternal mental health services, and specialist perinatal mental health community teams.Lincolnshire is one of 75 local authorities that is receiving funding to provide bespoke perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship support through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.However, more is needed. Access to these services varies across the country and too many people with mental health issues, including mothers in the 24 months postpartum, are not getting the support or care they need. NHS England is working to ensure that services are accessible to all women who need them.

For what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the Country. A small number of officials in the department have had access to the Cabinet Office Redbox copilot project to extract, summarise and synthesise information. The communications team also use the internal GCS Assist tool to support elements of communications planning.

How many instances of mobile phone theft have been reported in Lincolnshire since 2020.

The Home Office collects information on the number of theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. It is not currently possible to identify from these data which crimes involved the theft of a mobile phone. The Office for National Statistics publish estimates of mobile phone theft for England and Wales, but these figures are not available for smaller geographic areas. The latest Office for National Statistics estimates can be found at:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtablesWe will shortly be holding a Home Office Mobile Phone Theft Summit, drawing together representatives from the mobile phone industry, including tech companies, and law enforcement to see what more can collectively be done to break the business model of mobile phone thieves.As part of our Safer Streets Mission, this government is determined to crack down on theft and other crimes that make people feel unsafe in our communities, including strengthening neighbourhood policing, tackling anti-social behaviour and restoring public confidence.

For what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the Country.Northern Ireland Office Ministers do not use AI. A small number of officials in the department have carried out a time-limited test of the use of AI for taking meeting notes and summarising information. AI is not available to Northern Ireland Office officials at present and is the subject of ongoing discussions.

How many ECO4 schemes have been funded in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire since 2022.

Since 2022 to the end of September 2024 (the latest available data by local authority and parliamentary constituency), ECO4 has installed 885 measures in 243 households in South Holland and the Deepings constituency, and 11,228 measures in 3,345 households in Lincolnshire (includes Lincolnshire County Council, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire local authorities).

What steps he is taking to reduce fuel poverty in rural areas.

The Government has committed £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, this includes £1.8bn to support fuel poverty schemes. Rural homes are supported through energy efficiency schemes including the Energy Company Obligation and Home Upgrade Grant. The Warm Home Discount scheme provides eligible low-income and vulnerable households across Great Britain, including rural areas, with a £150 rebate off their winter energy bill. We will consult shortly on proposals for privately rented homes to achieve Energy Performance Certificate C or equivalent by 2030. We are also reviewing the 2021 fuel poverty strategy for England.

What steps she is taking to work with local authorities to support kinship carers in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. Kinship carers often take on this role at a time when they were least expecting to raise a family and we recognise the challenges they face, including financial.Through the Autumn Budget 2024, the department announced £40 million to trial a new kinship allowance in some local authorities in England. We will test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of caring for a child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. ​​We will share further details and the process for selecting local authorities in due course.​This is the single biggest investment made by government in kinship care to date. This investment could transform the lives of vulnerable children who can no longer live at home by allowing children to grow up within their families and communities, reducing disruption to their early years, so they can focus on schooling and building friendships.The department understands the unique challenges kinship carers face and is committed to providing the necessary support.

If he will take steps to increase access to PSA tests for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer for men in rural areas.

NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for ensuring healthcare needs of local communities are met. These responsibilities include considering adequate healthcare provision, care, and wider support for local populations, including in rural and socio-economically deprived areas.The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) does not currently recommend screening for prostate cancer as the Prostate Specific Antigen test does not meet the required accuracy for use in a national screening programme. Current methods offer insufficient benefits in relation to harms caused by overdiagnosis, such as invasive investigative procedures and unnecessary treatment.However, the National Health Service is prioritising the roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing community diagnostic centres, with capacity prioritised for cancer diagnostics.

For what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

DWP Ministers do not use AI for their official business. Over the last 12 months, our officials have utilised AI to support them in delivering better outcomes for customers. This includes the use of AI to increase colleague productivity, improve back-office operations and processes, and to tackle fraud and error.

If he will take steps to improve information about early diagnosis for prostate cancer for men from areas of socio-economic deprivation.

NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for ensuring healthcare needs of local communities are met. These responsibilities include considering adequate healthcare provision, care, and wider support for local populations, including in rural and socio-economically deprived areas.The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) does not currently recommend screening for prostate cancer as the Prostate Specific Antigen test does not meet the required accuracy for use in a national screening programme. Current methods offer insufficient benefits in relation to harms caused by overdiagnosis, such as invasive investigative procedures and unnecessary treatment.However, the National Health Service is prioritising the roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing community diagnostic centres, with capacity prioritised for cancer diagnostics.

For what purposes (a) special advisers and (b) officials in 10 Downing Street have used AI in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.The Government draws on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform our AI usage. For example, the Generative AI Framework, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, the AI Opportunities Action Plan and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.The department also has access to the Central Digital & Data Office, based in the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, for expert advice.

For what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the countryMinisters have not used AI in the Department in their roles as Law Officers.A small number of officials within the Department have been piloting the use of a Microsoft 365 application ‘CoPilot’ which can be used to summarise content and meetings, assisting with drafting content and interrogating information. ChatGPT has also previously been used in this manner.

For what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has huge potential to support the Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and accelerate to net zero. Over the last 12 months DESNZ officials have, with robust safeguards and governance, used AI tools to:Speed up office-based tasks including basic drafting, summarising, and searching internal and external information sources;Analyse internal information sets;Analyse external information, such as job listings to identify trends in green jobs. Ministers have been supported by officials using AI tools, in line with the uses above.

For what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.To seize this opportunity, the Ministry of Justice has established a new Justice AI Unit, led by the Department’s first Chief AI Officer, to develop a comprehensive AI strategy for the Department and its agencies.Officials are trialing the use of Microsoft 365 Copilot across 1,300 staff in the Department, specifically on its ability to reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks. In addition, we are exploring various pilots to support key functions, including frontline and operational staff.We adhere to a safety-first policy and have co-developed an AI ethical framework and toolkit with the Alan Turing Institute. This resource is designed to assist stakeholders, developers, policymakers, and decision-makers in understanding the requirements for fostering responsible innovation in the use of AI within the criminal justice system.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the quantity of best and most versatile agricultural land.

The current estimate of the quantity of best and most versatile agricultural land is 42% of agricultural land. Grades 1 and 2 together form about 21% of all farmland in England; Subgrade 3a also covers about 21%. The last publicly available estimate of BMV land was published in a Natural England Technical Information Note in 2009. It can be foundavailable here: The new Government recognises the importance of accurately identifying BMV land, and work is currently underway to develop a new strategic-scale map to replace the 1960s provisional Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) map. The updated map will align with current ALC guidelines and include the subdivision of Grade 3 land into subgrades 3a and 3b, which is not reflected in the provisional map. This project is expected to be completed by spring 2025, providing a more accurate and up-to-date assessment of land quality to inform future land use decisions.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the new Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country. As of January 2025, officials are exploring AI tools in a number of areas, although this work is still a proof-of-concept and not a live system. Officials are also exploring deep learning for peatland mapping to aid CO2 reduction and machine learning to automate marine species identification. We draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform our AI usage. For example, Generative AI Framework, Data Ethics Framework, AI Opportunities Action Plan and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.

Communities and Local Government, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Ministers and officials utilise AI for various purposes. This includes automating routine tasks (such as data entry and document processing), supporting research and development initiatives and analysing large datasets to identify trends and inform policy decisions.