Written questions by Hayes.

What recent steps he has taken to support access to finance for SMEs in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

Awaiting answer.

How many agency staff were employed by his Department in each of the last three years.

Awaiting answer.

Whether his Department has appointed staff from outside the civil service other than special advisers since July 2024.

Awaiting answer.

Whether his Department uses numerical reasoning tests as part of the recruitment process for its graduate recruitment scheme.

Awaiting answer.

How many political appointees have been made by his Department since July 2024.

We have taken ‘political appointees’ to mean special advisers. A list of special advisers by department is published each year in the Annual Report on Special Advisers which is laid in parliament. The Annual Report on Special Advisers 2026 will be publish...

What support his Department is providing to micro businesses in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

This government recognises that micro and small businesses are the backbone of our economy in Lincolnshire and across all rural areas in the United Kingdom.They provide goods and services central to people’s lives and local communities. While the High Str...

What steps he has taken to support the construction industry in Lincolnshire.

The Government is committed to delivering a National Infrastructure Pipeline, supported by up to £725 billion of public funding over the next decade, alongside the delivery of 1.5 million new homes. We are also investing £625 million to tackle skills shor...

What recent steps he has taken to tackle rogue builders and traders in Lincolnshire.

This government is committed to protecting consumers from rogue traders. Consumer legislation already sets out the standards consumers can expect when a trader supplies goods and services, including building work, as well as remedies if these rights are b...

Whether his Department has hired external public relations consultants since July 2024.

Since July 2024, the Department has not hired any external public relations consultants.

Whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Overseas remote working is only permitted on a temporary basis; permanent working outside the UK in a DBT role is not allowed.Approval is granted in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a family funeral), before or after annual leave visiting family/friends, o...

How much his Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

This information is not held in the requested format.

Whether his department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) provides officials, Ministers and special adv...

What recent steps his department has taken to support the long term resilience of pubs in Lincolnshire.

The Government recognises that pubs, including those in Lincolnshire, play a vital role in supporting local economies and communities across the UK.That is why the Government announced business rates support for pubs. As of April 2026, every pub received ...

What steps he is taking to support access to Post Offices in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

The Government protects the Post Office network by setting minimum access criteria, including a requirement for Post Office to maintain a network where at least 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a post office branch.To support delivery ...

If he will publish a list of training programmes used by civil servants in his Department since 2020.

Over this period, the majority of the training has been delivered via the Government Campus’ Learning Framework. The listed training includes e-learning, in-person training, live virtual training, and structured programmes involving various sessions. Some sessions have been run on a closed basis, just for DIT/DBT staff and others have involved an individual member of staff going taking a place on a cross-government course.The attached document sets out a list of the training programmes undertaken via the framework in this period for DBT staff and for staff in DIT prior to the formal creation of DBT in Feb 2023. We do not have access to pre-DBT data from the former BEIS.If an application is made to Government Campus and they agree that the specific learning need cannot be met via the Learning Framework, alternative training can be procured, subject to commercial rules. There is no central record of what training has been undertaken by DBT civil servants under this provision as a significant amount of learning is organised and funded at the level of individual teams.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the regional distribution of energy cost support for businesses in Lincolnshire.

The Department for Business and Trade manages two energy cost support schemes, the British Industry Supercharger and the Energy-Intensive Industries Compensation Scheme, to support eligible energy-intensive industries with the indirect costs of emissions levies and electricity policy and network costs. These schemes provide support to around 550 businesses across the whole of Great Britain, including some of the most electricity and trade-intensive businesses in Lincolnshire.From April 2027 the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme is expected to support over 10,000 additional manufacturing businesses across the whole of Great Britain with an additional payment in 2027 to cover the 2026/27 period.

Whether their Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the past 12 months.

DBT has used and continues to use artificial intelligence tools like Copilot and DBT Assist to support colleagues in their work, for example to help produce initial drafts, summaries, or research. The Department’s policy states that ‘human review/approval of AI tool output is mandatory’ and that ‘individuals are accountable for ensuing the accuracy of work where AI tools have been used’.

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 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.

How much his Department has spent on special severance payments in each of the last three years.

The total value of severance payments is set out in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts, which are available for the last three years.