Written questions by Hayes.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding levels for Lincolnshire Police.

This Government is committed to ensuring that the police have the resources they need to tackle crime effectively.Lincolnshire Police’s funding will be up to £164.3m in 2024-25. This is in addition to £1.4m provided for the 2024-25 pay award which has been allocated outside of the police funding settlement.Funding beyond this year, including for Lincolnshire Police, will be confirmed in due course following the upcoming Spending Review.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will have discussions with major (a) supermarkets and (b) food retailers on reducing food waste.

Defra engages with retailers on a regular basis as part of ongoing efforts to ensure alignment on key policies. This includes regular bilateral conversations with individual organisations and forums that include all the major supermarkets. Agendas are adjusted according to priorities. Defra supports the Courtauld Commitment, an industry-led initiative delivered by the Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP), which has a target of 50% per capita reduction in food waste by 2030 against the UK’s 2007 baseline. Membership of Courtauld includes all the major retailers and their trade organisation, the British Retal Consortium (BRC). Defra engages in Courtauld’s collaborative approach, attending working group discussions with industry on how to tackle food waste in the supply chain.

What steps his Department is taking to improve the energy efficiency of homes in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Support for boosting energy efficiency in homes is currently available through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Scheme, Home Upgrade Grant, Energy Company Obligation Scheme and the Great British Insulation scheme. These schemes are available across the country, including to those based in South Holland and the Deepings constituency. We have also announced a new Warm Homes: Local Grant and the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, with delivery expected in 2025. The Warm Homes Plan will offer grants and low interest loans to support investment in insulation, low carbon heating and other home improvements to cut bills. We will partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out this plan.

How many people have been granted visas to work in the United Kingdom in the last three years without passing criminal record checks.

The Home Office undertakes thorough checks to prevent serious criminals from entering the UK. Overseas Criminal Record checks are conducted on all nationals within the Skilled Worker route along with other security checks to ensure that those entering the UK for the purpose of employment are suitable to do so. We are unaware of any cases whereby an individual who has not met our requirements for suitability has been granted leave and subsequently entered the UK.

If she will amend the Equality Act 2010 to protect the right of people to silently pray in the United Kingdom.

Anyone should be able to privately pray when at work or accessing services and the religion or belief protections in the Equality Act 2010 (the Act) already ensure this. The Act does not take precedence over other civil or criminal law. Accordingly, amendment of the Act in this regard would not be appropriate.

If she will publish guidance on safe access buffer zones around abortion clinics.

This Government’s priority has been to commence Safe Access Zones as quickly as possible. The College of Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service will produce guidance for the police and prosecutors.

If she will publish guidance on the application of safe access zones around abortion clinics to private property within such zones.

This Government’s priority has been to commence Safe Access Zones as quickly as possible. The College of Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service will produce guidance for the police and prosecutors.

How many and what proportion of asylum claims her Department has processed since 5 July 2024.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum claims, initial decisions and asylum claims awaiting an initial decision is published in tables Asy_D01, Asy_D02 and Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.The latest data relates to year ending June 2024. Data for July to September 2024 will be published on 28 November 2024.

What recent estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire who have unmet care needs; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure those care needs are met.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing individuals’ care and support needs and, where eligible, for meeting those needs. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authorities in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014.Long-term reform is needed in adult social care. We will work with the sector to build consensus for a National Care Service, based on consistent national standards, to support people to live independent and dignified lives.In the interim, Care Quality Commission (CQC) local authority assessments consider the performance of the delivery of Care Act duties, including the timeliness of assessing care needs. If the CQC identifies that a local authority has failed or is failing its functions to an acceptable standard, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has powers to intervene. The CQC has published its first nine local authority ratings and reports.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding was provided through the Community Ownership Fund to projects in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in each year since 2019.

The Community Ownership Fund was initially launched in 2021 under the previous government. Across its lifetime It has awarded around £100 million to over 300 projects across every region of the UK. Applications have been assessed by a fair and transparent framework that is publicly available on gov.uk.Projects must demonstrate their ability to run a sustainable business under community ownership and meet minimum scoring criteria to be considered for funding. Development support has been on offer to assist applicants. To date there have been no projects from South Holland and The Deepings who have met the threshold to be considered for funding.

How many hotels have started housing asylum seekers awaiting a decision on whether they will be granted refugee status since 5 July 2024.

The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly. This includes clearing the backlog to reduce demand on our accommodation estate and ending the use of hotels over time.

What assessment he has made of trends in childhood obesity levels in (a) South Holland and The Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in each of the last three years.

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) collects data on children in Reception, aged four to five years old, and children in Year 6, aged 10 to 11 years old. It provides detailed trend data on children’s weight status, including childhood obesity. Data on obesity prevalence from the NCMP is available for the school years 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23, with 2022/23 being the most recent year for which data is available. There is no data available for Lincolnshire for 2020/21 due the COVID-19 pandemic, with all of the data for 2019/20 having been collected before the COVID-19 pandemic. Data is not available at a constituency level, but is available at a local authority level. For Lincolnshire, the prevalence of obesity in 2022/23 for both children aged four to five years old and those aged 10 to 11 years old is similar to the pre-pandemic levels in 2019/20. The following table shows the obesity prevalence as a percentage for children in Reception and Year 6 in Lincolnshire, where the data is available, each year from 2019/20 to 2022/23: Obesity prevalenceAreaReceptionYear 62019/202020/212021/222022/232019/202020/212021/222022/23Lincolnshire10.5%No data11.0%9.4%22.2%No data24.3%23.2%

What steps she is taking to help reduce the number of people driving while under the influence of illegal drugs.

This Government takes road safety very seriously and reducing those killed and injured on our roads is a key priority. That is why we have announced our intention to publish a new Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade. We will set out next steps on this in due course.

How many publicly available roadside electric vehicle chargers will be required for the phase out of the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

More charging infrastructure is needed across the country to support the transition to electric vehicles, and this Government has committed to accelerate the rollout. The number of public charging devices required depends on a variety of factors such as the availability of off-street parking, future charging behaviour and local driving patterns. To accelerate the rollout of local charging infrastructure, Lincolnshire County Council, in which South Holland and the Deepings sits, has been allocated £6,380,592 capital and resource funding under the Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund. This will help Lincolnshire work with industry to rollout additional public chargepoints to support demand.

What information his Department holds on the number of community pharmacies that have closed in (a) South Holland and the Deeping constituency and (b) Lincolnshire since 2014.

The Department does not hold data prior to September 2016. There were 13 community pharmacies providing National Health Service pharmaceutical services in the South Holland and Deeping constituency on 30 June 2024, which is three fewer than in September 2016. There were 177 community pharmacies providing NHS pharmaceutical services in Lincolnshire County on 30 June 2024, which is 16 fewer than in September 2016.

Whether Ministers in his Department have met representatives of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 5 July 2024.

Details of Ministers’ and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Published declarations include the purpose of the meeting and the names of any additional external organisations or individuals in attendance.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding was provided through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to projects in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in each year since 2019.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was launched in 2022/23. Funding is allocated to lead local authorities; data is not collected at a constituency level. Details of full funding allocations for lead local authorities, including the hon. Member’s local authority area can be found at the following link. An annual breakdown of allocations can also be found in the spreadsheet here.

What assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of farm machinery theft in the last five years.

The Government recognises the importance of tackling rural crime and the impact stolen farm machinery can have on businesses. We are committed to safeguarding rural communities, with tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing, and stronger laws to prevent farm theft and fly-tippers.We will implement the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which aims to prevent the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting.

Whether her Department has made an estimate of how many polygamous marriages are valid in the UK.

The Home Office does not collect data on polygamous marriages

What estimate he has made of the potential cost of including a package of community benefits in the proposal for the Grimsby to Walpole project under the Great Grid Upgrade.

The Government cannot comment on specific projects which will come before the Secretary of State for a final planning decision. All projects, regardless of location, must go through the independent and robust planning process. We are committed to ensuring that communities who live near new transmission infrastructure can see the benefits of it and are considering how to most effectively deliver this.