diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
index 7dbfb56..b734ea8 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -8,10 +8,11 @@ FROM mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers/base:${VARIANT}
 
 ARG SHELLCHECK_VERSION="v0.7.1"
 SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
+# hadolint ignore=DL3008
 RUN apt-get update \
     && export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
 # Install xz-utils to extract tarballs
-    && apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends xz-utils=5.2.4-1 \
+    && apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends xz-utils \
 # Install shellcheck (apt-get doesn't install the latest version needed by VS code, so installing from GitHub release, see:
 # https://askubuntu.com/a/1228181)
     && mkdir -p /tmp/shellcheck \
diff --git a/.github/DEPENDENCIES.md b/.github/DEPENDENCIES.md
index 5e4b63c..3732f55 100644
--- a/.github/DEPENDENCIES.md
+++ b/.github/DEPENDENCIES.md
@@ -47,13 +47,7 @@ For major version updates, we should test that the remote container works succes
 
 ## Dockerfile dependencies
 
-We have [pinned the linux dependencies in the devcontainer Dockerfile](https://github.com/agilepathway/hoverfly-github-action/pull/46/files), but there is no mechanism to automatically update them, currently.  It looks like [it's on Dependabot's roadmap](https://github.com/dependabot/dependabot-core/issues/2129#issuecomment-511552345), so we have [an issue automatically created every 6 months](https://github.com/agilepathway/hoverfly-github-action/pull/59) to 
-1. update the dependencies manually
-2. see if Dependabot now offer this functionality
-
-### Updating the Dockerfile dependencies manually
-
-1. Temporarily unpin the versions (i.e. remove `=<version>` from each package in the Dockerfile)
-2. Execute the Dockerfile (e.g. if it's a remote container Dockerfile build the remote container)
-3. Run `apt-cache policy <package>` for each package, to see the version installed
-4. Pin all the versions, replacing any old versions with new ones
+We do not pin the linux apt-get dependencies in the devcontainer Dockerfile as
+[Dependabot currently does not support this](https://github.com/dependabot/dependabot-core/issues/2129), and also the
+risk of side effects due to an updated apt-get dependency in the devcontainer is very small indeed (and there's zero
+risk to production, as this is just in the devcontainer).
diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/scheduled/update-dockerfile-dependencies.md b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/scheduled/update-dockerfile-dependencies.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 9a849be..0000000
--- a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/scheduled/update-dockerfile-dependencies.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
----
-name: Update dependencies in devcontainer Dockerfile
-about: Stay up to date with Dockerfile dependencies
-title: Update dependencies in devcontainer Dockerfile
-labels: ''
-assignees: ''
-
----
-
-
-We have [pinned the linux dependencies in the devcontainer Dockerfile](https://github.com/agilepathway/hoverfly-github-action/pull/46/files), but there is no mechanism to automatically update them, currently. It looks like [it's on Dependabot's roadmap](https://github.com/dependabot/dependabot-core/issues/2129#issuecomment-511552345), so this GitHub Issue gets automatically created every 6 months to:
-
-- [ ] update the dependencies manually:
-    1. Temporarily unpin the versions (i.e. remove `=<version>` from each package in the Dockerfile)
-    2. Execute the Dockerfile (e.g. if it's a remote container Dockerfile build the remote container)
-    3. Run `apt-cache policy <package>` for each package, to see the version installed
-    4. Pin all the versions, replacing any old versions with new ones
-- [ ] see if Dependabot now offer this functionality (in which case we can do it automatically, from then on)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/schedule_dockerfile_dependency_updates_issue.yml b/.github/workflows/schedule_dockerfile_dependency_updates_issue.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 4c00d85..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/schedule_dockerfile_dependency_updates_issue.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
----
-name: Create issue every 6 months to update Dockerfile dependencies
-on:  # yamllint disable-line rule:truthy
-  # Scheduled for 4am on 10th March and 10th Sept every year
-  schedule:
-    - cron: '0 4 10 3,9 *'  # * is a special character in YAML so we have to quote this string
-
-jobs:
-  create_issue:
-    name: Create issue to update Dockerfile dependencies
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-
-      # Repo code checkout required if `template` is used
-      - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
-
-      - name: issue-bot
-        uses: imjohnbo/issue-bot@v2
-        with:
-          assignees: "johnboyes"
-          labels: "dependencies"
-          pinned: false
-          close-previous: false
-          # assignees & labels in the template are overridden by the values specified in this action
-          template: ".github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/scheduled/update-dockerfile-dependencies.md"
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}