Written questions by Hayes.

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

Awaiting answer.

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

Awaiting answer.

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.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the availability of post-16 provision in Lincolnshire.

The department works closely with the Lincolnshire councils and local further education (FE) colleges to ensure there is sufficient post-16 provision in Lincolnshire.The department works with local authorities to assess significant change applications from schools for new post-16 provision or to close existing provision to ensure that any closure proposals do not create 16 to 19 sufficiency challenges within an area.In October 2025, we published the ‘Post-16 education and skills white paper’, setting out reforms to the skills system. This includes the introduction of V Levels to sit alongside A and T Levels, the Further Study pathway, supported by a new Foundation Certificate, to support students to progress onto V, T or A levels and also the Occupational pathway. This is supported by a new Occupational Certificate, assisting students develop skills to go into apprenticeships or employment.

Whether any civil servants hired by her Department were recruited over another person on the basis of a protected characteristic in each of the last three years.

Civil Service recruitment must follow the rules set out in legislation within the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010, which outlines the requirements to ensure that civil servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition.Compliance with CRaGA is overseen by the independent Civil Service Commission, which publishes recruitment principles setting out the detailed rules departments must follow.For departments who use Civil Service Jobs to manage their recruitment, applicants are asked to provide diversity data on a voluntary basis only and no details are shared with hiring managers.The positive action measures in the Equality Act 2010 allows employers to take proportionate action that aims to reduce disadvantage, meet different needs and increase participation.Employers who choose to use positive action can help people who share a particular protected characteristic to overcome certain barriers under the measures. However, employers need to ensure they do this in a way which does not unfairly disadvantage other groups as this could amount to ‘positive discrimination’, which is unlawful.

How many staff within her Department are reliant on a visa for employment.

The department currently sponsors 28 individuals on a Skilled Worker visa through a Certificate of Sponsorship.

How much of the Connect the Classroom funding will be spent on schools in South Holland and the Deepings constituency

As part of our Education Estates Strategy, a 10-year plan to transform schools and colleges across England, we will provide targeted support for digital connectivity. As part of this £325 million of funding will be used for the expansion of Connect the Classroom and to support hard to reach schools to access fast, reliable gigabit-capable broadband. New selection criteria will be announced in the summer.Connect the Classroom is currently supporting schools on the regional improvement for standards and excellence programme, ensuring that poor connectivity isn’t a barrier to school improvement. To date, over £900,000 of Connect the Classroom funding has been spent on schools in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Whether it is her Department's policy that (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers use the disappearing messages function on Whatsapp on Government devices.

The department requires ministers and officials to follow the Non-Corporate Communications Channels (NCCCs) Guidance issued by the Government Digital Service: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-corporate-communication-channels-for-government-business.

If she will make new capital funding available for school buildings in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

We are investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26. As part of this, in 2025/26, Lincolnshire County Council was allocated almost £6 million to invest across its maintained schools. Capital funding for other bodies responsible for schools in South Holland and the Deepings are also available on GOV.UK. We expect to publish capital allocations and the outcomes of the Condition Improvement Fund for the 2026/27 financial year in the spring. We are also investing almost £20 billion in the School Rebuilding Programme through to 2034/35, delivering rebuilding projects at over 500 schools within the existing programme, with a further 250 schools to be selected within two years. We plan to open a nomination round early in 2026. Lincolnshire has also been allocated £62.2 million of Basic Need capital funding to support it to create mainstream school places needed between May 2024 and September 2028.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that secondary school pupils have access to appropriate school transport arrangements in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

The department’s home to school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities are responsible for arranging free home to school travel for eligible children. A child is eligible if they are of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational need, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families.In addition, the Bus Services Act 2025 puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England. This will enable them to ensure local bus services meet the needs of local communities, including supporting access to education.

If she will publish an assessment of the economic impact on early years providers of changes to employers national insurance.

The government position was to compensate public sector employers only for the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) increase announced in Budget 2024. For eligible early years settings, this was provided through the dedicated £25 million Early Years NICs and Teachers’ Pay Grant in 2025/26.We recognise the impact on the early years sector and remain committed to protecting investment. We expect to invest over £9.5 billion in 2026/27, an above-inflation increase on 2025/26. National average funding rate increases reflect full costs of delivering a full year of expanded entitlements for early years providers.

How many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.

Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published by the Office for National Statistics as part of their quarterly release on public sector employment statistics. Information for September 2025 can be accessed at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2025.Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for the 2024/25 financial year can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025.

How many Technical Excellence Colleges are planned to be in Lincolnshire.

As part of its mission to break down barriers to opportunity, this government is transforming further education colleges into specialist technical excellence colleges (TECs), working with a wide range of skills partners to provide young people and adults with better opportunities and the highly trained workforce that local economies need.We have already launched ten new construction TECs, backed by £120 million, and are now expanding the TEC programme to a further four high growth sectors in defence, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital and technologies.Applications for all four sectors are now live and will close on 16 February 2026.Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. Successful TECs will be appointed from April 2026.

How many full time equivalent staff in her Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the past three years.

Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who are employed to produce social media content from staff who are employed to work on broader digital communications, it is not possible to report exact figures in response to this question.

What steps she is taking to ensure that all pupils are able to purse vocational education pathways in Lincolnshire.

The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, published on 20 October, set out our vision for a world-leading skills system which breaks down barriers to opportunity, meets student and employers’ needs, widens access to high quality education and training, supports innovation, research, and development and improves people’s lives.It sets out our plans to introduce V Levels, which will sit alongside A levels and T Levels, and will become the pathway for vocational qualifications at level 3 for 16 to 19 year olds, sitting alongside the academic and technical pathways. We will also introduce two clear post-16 pathways at level 2 for further study and for occupations. We have launched a consultation on these measures, which will close on 12 January 2026. Full details are accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/post-16-level-3-and-below-pathways.Skills England has also been established to ensure we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver the national, regional and local skills needs of the next decade.

If she will review the (a) age and (b) quality of school buildings in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

I refer the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings to the answer of 31 October 2025 to Question 83935.