Written questions by Hayes.

Which schools in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire will begin offering free breakfast clubs from September 2026.

Awaiting answer.

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

Awaiting answer.

What steps she is taking to increase defibrillator training in schools in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Awaiting answer.

What steps her department is taking to address the recruitment and retention of teachers in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Awaiting answer.

How many political appointees have been made by her department since July 2024.

Awaiting answer.

What information her Department holds on the number of people who have outstanding Plan 2 student loans in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement on (a) mature student enrolment numbers and (b) local upskilling opportunities in (i) South Holland and the D

The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will replace and transform the existing student finance system for higher education at levels 4 to 6. It will support this ambition by making modular provision eligible for funding for the first time.An equality ana...

What steps she is taking to support pupils in Lincolnshire in learning to swim.

Swimming is a vital life skill. This is why swimming is a curriculum entitlement at primary school. Funded through core school budgets, schools must provide swimming lessons in either key stage 1 or 2.The department has confirmed £1 billion funding for PE...

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

Awaiting answer.

What support her Department is providing for post-16 education providers in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The government is supporting providers across the country, including in South Holland and the Deepings and across Lincolnshire, with over £18 billion per year of programme funding in post-16 education and skills, delivering record investment this Parliame...

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

Ministers do not permit employees to work from overseas on a regular basis. Employees are able to request an exception to work from overseas for a temporary period of time in the following limited circumstances. These include short-term situations, such a...

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

This information is not held in the requested format.

Whether her 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 (AI) to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that hav...

What recent steps she has taken to support SEND pupils in Lincolnshire with their studies.

The department and NHS England have been supporting the Local Area Partnership (LAP) in Lincolnshire to improve its special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services through the development of their strategic plan, with regular engagement meeting...

What estimate her Department has made of the number of additional teachers funded in Lincolnshire with the proceeds from VAT on school fees.

Reforms to VAT and business rates will raise around £1.8 billion a year by 2029/30, helping to deliver the government’s commitments relating to education and young people. This measure will raise essential revenue that will be invested in our public servi...

If she will provide a list of training programmes used by civil servants in her department since 2020.

The department offers a wide range of training and development opportunities to our employees across a broad curriculum. The majority of this training is delivered through the cross‑government Civil Service Learning platform, which can be accessed at Skills for Government here: https://prospectus.governmentcampus.co.uk/find-out-more/skills-for-government/.Core learning areas accessed by the department include:• Planning and delivery• Leadership• Communication• Working with Parliament and government• Grant management• Problem solving• Line management• Developing behaviours• Information, data and analysis• Change management and agility• Budget management• Contract management• Stakeholder and customer engagement• IT software skills• Artificial intelligence.In addition, directorates and professional functions across the department commission or access bespoke training where required to meet specialist, technical or role‑specific needs.

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

The department recognises the opportunities for productivity and efficiency enabled by effective deployment of artificial intelligence (AI). Any use of AI is undertaken in line with relevant government guidance on security and transparency, and under appropriate oversight. The department has made proportionate use of AI‑enabled tools to support tasks such as information retrieval and summarisation. These tools are used to assist officials and do not replace decision making or professional expertiseThe drafting of primary and secondary legislation is often the responsibility of a large number of officials across government departments. A range of tools are used to assist with this drafting, including AI which is most commonly used to check, critique, and otherwise interrogate drafts.While AI can be used to assist with the drafting of legislation, the production of the draft remains the responsibility of a lead human drafter to meet the high standards expected of government legislation.All secondary legislation is subject to established governance arrangements and are drafted and finalised under the responsibility of qualified lawyers.It is Parliament's responsibility to scrutinise and amend legislation as it sees necessary.

Whether her Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.

The department has not paid for followers on its social media platforms.

How much her 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.

What steps she is taking to ensure access for pre-school children with additional needs to nursery places in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The government wants every child, including those with additional needs, to be able to access a childcare setting where they can get the best start in life. The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms we announced in February will give early years settings the training, evidence-based tools and expert input they need to welcome children with diverse needs into their settings and provide the right support from day one. We are investing over £200 million to strengthen the SEND offer in Best Start Family Hubs, including funding a family-facing practitioner in every hub to join up support across early years settings, health visitors and SEND teams. The Best Start Family Hubs will begin rolling out in April 2026.Alongside this, the department will work with local authorities, including local authority officers in Lincolnshire County Council, to strengthen their childcare sufficiency planning for children with SEND and improve data on the availability of suitable places, giving parents greater confidence that their children can access the early education and childcare they are entitled to.