Written questions by Hayes.

What steps he is taking to improve dementia care and support for families post-diagnosis in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision of dementia care services. NHS England expects ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, and supports them with relevant resources, such as the recently updated RightCare scenario for dementia. Lincolnshire is committed to continuing to look at how it can improve its offer to support the local population, following a diagnosis of dementia. The ICB is developing plans for a dedicated standalone service which will increase its capacity to offer support before, during, and after diagnosis. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has been commissioned by NHS England to develop a tool for local health systems to support investigation of the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates. This includes the assessment of underlying population characteristics, such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. The aim of this work is to provide context for variation, and to enable targeted investigation and provision of support at a local level to enhance diagnosis rates. The tool has been released, and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.

Whether she has made a recent estimate of how many primary school children do not speak English as their first language.

The department publishes information on whether a pupil is known to speak English as a first language or not. This data can be found in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, based on the January 2024 school census. The most recent figures are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. A pupil is recorded to have English as an additional language if they are exposed to a language at home that is known or believed to be other than English. This measure is not a measure of English language proficiency or a good proxy for recent immigration.

If he meet with National Grid to discuss the potential cost to the public purse from compensation for loss of property value as a result of proposed pylons installations in South Holland and The Deepings constituency.

National Grid, as the relevant transmission licence holder, is required to compensate landowners who agree to site electrical infrastructure on their land. This cost is paid for by National Grid, it does not come from government expenditure. As such it would not be appropriate for government to get involved in negotiations about compensation payments awarded to parties affected by specific infrastructure projects.

Communities and Local Government, how many full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff are employed by HM Land Registry.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) matters are embedded within the work of the wider HR Strategy and Policy Team (which is 1.5 FTE in total) within HM Land Registry .

How many full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff are employed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

All staff at the Equality and Human Rights Commission are working to advance equality through their statutory remit. No staff are specifically employed in full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion roles.

Representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to help ensure the preservation of historic churches in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The Church Commissioners and Archbishops' Council agreed funding of £11 million for 2023-25 in support of Buildings for Mission. £9 million was allocated to dioceses to fund 30 building support officers to give specialist advice, and there was a small works grant fund. More information about the fund can be found here: Church of England announces £9 million to help parishes with repairs and specialist advice | The Church of England The National Church Institutions has directly funded 14 grants to Anglican churches in Lincolnshire, amounting to £217,000, through its conservation grants programme and allocated Cultural Recovery Funding.There are also a small number of other national grant-making bodies, such as the National Churches Trust, to which churches can apply for support, as well as a small number of local Lincolnshire charities that give small grants to local churches, and the Church is very grateful for their continued support.Along with the lead bishops for church buildings, the Bishop of Bristol and Bishop of Ramsbury, I have welcomed the Government's renewal of the Listed Place of Worship Grant Scheme, which will help many listed churches in Lincolnshire reclaim the cost of VAT on church repairs. The Church Commissioners continue to advocate for the Scheme, and for it to be put on a more long-term footing. Comment on the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme announcement | The Church of EnglandThe National Church Institutions are awaiting the Government’s formal response to the 2017 Taylor Review (The Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals - GOV.UK) into the Sustainability of Church Buildings commissioned by the Department of Culture Media and Sport.

What steps she is taking to tackle people fraudulently claiming Personal Independence Payments.

DWP is committed to tackling fraud and error in the benefits system and to the recovery of debts, including those generated by Personal Independent Payments. Working closely with counter fraud experts, the DWP has introduced measures to prevent fraud entering the system based on the types of cases and trends we have seen, for example:- Strengthening the Identity and Verification Process to prevent fraudulent cases entering the system- Introducing more rigorous checks for customers changing personal details, including bank accounts- Delivering awareness sessions for Case Managers and Healthcare Professionals, reinforcing action to take when suspicious cases are identified, eg fake documents DWP is delivering against key counter fraud activity, including investing in counter fraud professionals and building data analytical capabilities. The new Fraud, Error and Debt Bill will bring forward new measures to tackle fraud in the system. Details on the measures Government will be legislating will be presented to Parliament in due course. More information on how the department tackles fraud and error across all benefit streams can be found here: DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 (HTML) - GOV.UK

How many full time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff are employed by the Competition and Markets Authority.

The Competition and Markets Authority does not have any full time equivalent staff dedicated to diversity, equality and inclusion.

Communities and Local Government, how many people are living in emergency accommodation in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

South Holland District council had 21 households in temporary accommodation as of 30 June 2024. The most recent temporary accommodation numbers by local authority are available at Tab TA1 Detailed_LA_202406_fix.xlsx.

Whether she has made a recent estimate of how many primary school children in England were born overseas.

The information requested is not held by the department. The department publishes information on ethnicity and whether a pupil is known to speak English as a first language or not. This information can be found in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, which is based on January school census data. The most recently published figures can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. Neither ethnicity nor language can be used as a proxy to determine whether a pupil was born overseas.

What steps she is taking to tackle online sites advising people to claim for sickness and disability payments they are not entitled to.

DWP collaborates with government partners, including Action Fraud, City of London Police (CoLP) and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to identify malicious sites that impersonate the department, enable fraudulent activity or target DWP customers. DWP investigates sites hosting potentially malicious content to assess for fraudulent activity. Sites assessed as a potential threat to DWP and its customers, are referred to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (part of the CoLP) who triage and assess for potential takedown within a 28-day period.

How many fixed penalty notices have been handed out for school non-attendance in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) England in each of the last five years.

The department collects information from local authorities on penalty notices issued for unauthorised absence. This is published in the statistical release on parental responsibility measures and can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/parental-responsibility-measures. The numbers of penalty notices issued in Lincolnshire and England can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/169aa7d0-a3ce-44bc-0f1d-08dd167ca495. No data was collected for 2019/20 due to the pandemic. Attendance at school was heavily disrupted in 2020/21 and for two months measures were disapplied when schools were not open to all pupils.

If she will take steps to ensure that there is adequate careers (a) advice and (b) guidance in schools on maritime career pathways.

High-quality careers information, advice and guidance is key to helping young people make informed decisions about their future and involves finding out about and considering the different options available to them, including maritime industries. As new technologies and industries emerge, it is critical that young people understand the breadth of careers and opportunities available and can make informed decisions about their future, including the value of technical and vocational pathways to employment. Good quality careers advice is essential if we are to ensure we meet the higher technical skills needs of our country. Whilst an essential element of careers advice is that it is person-centred and impartial, the department’s partner organisations provide a range of wider careers information and advice across all employment sectors, including maritime industries. The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) supports schools and colleges to embed best practice so that young people are aware of the full range of careers across all sectors of the economy. The department also funds Careers Hubs, which lead partnerships of secondary schools, colleges, employers, combined authorities, local authorities and careers providers to help young people connect closely to local skills and economic needs through a responsive careers education programme. Through this network, schools can engage with employers from a wide range of sectors to raise awareness of different career pathways and to improve careers education. This supports young people to make informed choices, and to develop the skills they need and employers want. Sector bodies and individual employers can register their interest through CEC to support schools and colleges, for example through the Enterprise Adviser Network or as a Cornerstone Employer. Cornerstone Employers are a flagship group of employers from a range of sectors that work with networks of schools and colleges to improve careers education and make sure key skills for their sector are understood by teachers and education leaders. Cowes Enterprise College has created Maritime Futures, an exciting model for integrating maritime into a mainstream curriculum at key stage 3, showcasing successful engagement between schools and employers. In discrete curriculum subjects, including mathematics, science, geography, history, art, the national curriculum content is taught through a maritime lens, using the wealth of learning opportunities the maritime sector presents. Subject leaders work together so that learning in each discipline reinforces and enhances the learning in other subjects. Students apply the robust knowledge acquired to practical projects. For example, students build boats in design technology and apply what they have learnt on the physics of buoyancy, drag and variables. Local maritime employers advise on curriculum content and help deliver some lessons. In addition, the National Careers Service, which is a free, government-funded careers information, advice and guidance service, draws on a range of labour market information to support and guide individuals. The service website gives customers access to a range of useful digital tools and resources to support them, including ‘Explore Careers’ which includes more than 130 industry areas and more than 800 job profiles, including a range of maritime roles ranging from merchant navy to boat building describing what those roles entail, qualifications and entry routes.

If he will take steps to prioritise domestic supply chains in defence procurement.

This Government is committed to developing a UK Defence industrial base that ensures a strong Defence sector and resilient supply chains. The Statement of Intent for the Defence Industrial Strategy, published on Monday 2 December, set out a commitment to prioritising UK businesses for investment and boosting sovereign capacity. It will enact a deep reform of Ministry of Defence procurement to reduce waste, improve delivery and support growth, whilst ensuring we remain compliant with our obligations under our international trade agreements.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to tackle gambling advertisements (a) online and (b) on television which are targeted at young people.

There are a range of robust rules and restrictions which apply to gambling adverts, wherever they appear, to ensure they are socially responsible.As part of the UK Advertising Codes, issued by the Committees for Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committees of Advertising Practice (BCAP), sister organisations of the Advertising Standards Authority, adverts must not be placed in children’s media and advertisers must take all reasonable steps to ensure that under-18s are excluded from their targeted marketing. In addition, content with ‘strong appeal’ to children such as top flight footballers or celebrities popular with children is prohibited from appearing in gambling adverts. As the statutory regulator for gambling in Great Britain, the Gambling Commission requires all licensed operators to abide by the Advertising Codes.As the Minister for Gambling set out in her speech at the GambleAware conference on 4 December, we want to see the gambling industry further raise standards to ensure that levels of gambling advertising does not exacerbate harm. This work will be monitored closely.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of working from home on civil service productivity.

We have reviewed the wide range of studies available on the benefits of hybrid working, which has been used to inform the expectation for 60% office attendance for Civil Servants. This expectation has not changed since the previous administration.

What the cost to the public purse was of the UK delegation's participation in COP29 in Baku.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) on 26 November to question UIN 14729.

What the total cost to the public purse of curtailment of onshore wind turbines in England was in the last three years.

The Department does not hold this information. A summary of constraint costs is publicly available at https://www.neso.energy/data-portal/constraint-breakdown, and network constraint costs for 2023 were £1.4bn. The National Energy System Operator is responsible for managing constraints, which are a natural part of operating an efficient electricity system. These costs are not funded by the public purse, but instead by suppliers via Balancing Services Use of System charges. As part of Clean Power 2030, the Government is working to develop the necessary grid infrastructure and manage the level of constraints to create a cheaper and secure energy system for Britain.

Pursuant to the Answer on 26 November to Question 14583 on Veterans: Radiation Exposure, if he will set a deadline for the publication of his Department's internal review into the whereabouts of nuclear test veterans' medical records.

The Government is deeply grateful to all Service personnel who participated in the UK nuclear testing programme. We recognise the huge contribution they have made to our national security and take this issue very seriously.I have asked officials to look seriously into unresolved questions regarding medical records as a priority, and this is now underway. This work will be comprehensive, and it will enable us to better understand what information the Department holds in relation to the medical testing of Service personnel who took part in the UK nuclear weapons tests, ensuring that we can be assured that relevant information has been looked at thoroughly.I am also firmly committed to regular engagement with organisations representing nuclear test veterans to understand their concerns, and officials in the Department are also engaging regularly.

Whether he has made an assessment of the impact of the accelerated energy grid decarbonisation target on the UK's reliance on imports from China.

The Government works closely with industry to maintain a detailed picture of foreign involvement in critical national infrastructure. Foreign involvement in critical national infrastructure undergoes the highest levels of scrutiny, with the government and industry working alongside each other to monitor and mitigate the security risks in the energy sector and its supply chain. A positive trading relationship benefits both the UK and China, and we continue to recognise the importance of trade and investment from China, with whom we will co-operate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must.