Written questions by Hayes.

How much the Teaching Regulation Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) adheres to the departmental policy of providing workplace adjustments where appropriate. The cost of providing equipment for use at home to facilitate workplace adjustments for TRA staff is shown below:Financial YearCost2022/23£02023/24£02024/25£316.99 Heads of departments have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.

How much the Education and Skills Funding Agency spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

The department and its executive agencies, including the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), only provide equipment for home working in the case of a workplace adjustment related to a disability and which the Equality Act requires us to support. Departmental spend over the last three years, which includes ESFA spend, on equipment which exceeded £500: Financial YearTotal spend on equipment exceeding £5002022/23£28,103.732023/24£53,675.592024/25£46,576 To obtain comprehensive data which includes spending on equipment below £500 for each of the last three years, it would be necessary to contact individual teams across the department and agencies, which would not be possible within the timeframe for responding to a PQ, and would incur a disproportionate cost.

How much the Standards and Testing Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is an executive agency of the department and follows our policies on hybrid working and the purchase of equipment for use at home.The department has set an expectation that colleagues spend at least 60% of their working time in the office or another work setting. Employees who work from home as part of a flexible arrangement, and not as part of a contractual arrangement, are expected to have access to a suitable workspace and equipment at their own cost. The exception to this would be equipment recommended as a part of a reasonable adjustment following an occupational health assessment, but such equipment would be charged to a central departmental budget rather than to STA.STA has no recorded expenditure on equipment to enable staff to work from home in any of the last three financial years.

How much Ofsted has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

How much Ofqual has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, to write to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

What information her Department holds on the number of fines that were issued to parents for unauthorised school absence in (a) South Holland District Council and (b) South Kesteven District Council in the last 12 months.

The information is not held by the department at local authority district level.Information on penalty notices for unauthorised absence is collected at local authority level. The latest available data, covering the 2023/24 academic year, is available in the parental responsibility measures statistical release, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/parental-responsibility-measures/2023-24.

Whether her Department plans to increase the level of support available to help schools meet the needs of pupils with learning disabilities in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

The department wants to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to achieve and thrive in mainstream settings through early identification, effective support, high-quality teaching and effective allocation of resources.We are engaging extensively with stakeholders, including our Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion, on the best ways to drive inclusive practice and how to improve mainstream education outcomes and experiences for children and young people with SEND.Details of the government's intended approach to SEND reform will be set out in a Schools White Paper in the autumn.

What steps she is taking to support the introduction of more vocational education pathways for students in Lincolnshire.

As announced in the Spending Review, the department is making over £1 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29. This will support and grow the wide range of technical routes and work-based training available for people of all ages, across the country including in Cambridgeshire. This includes:Widening the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, including new foundation apprenticeships, which will give more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working life.T levels, a high-quality technical education option for young people, including a valuable workplace industry placement which prepares them work.Higher Technical Qualifications, occupation-focussed level 4-5 qualifications, approved and quality marked as providing the skills demanded in the workplace by employers.Skills Bootcamps giving learners the chance to build sector-specific skills with a job interview on completion and Free Courses for Jobs giving learners the chance to access high value level 3 qualifications. We have also strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have multiple opportunities for meaningful encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships.

Whether she plans to ensure improved access to schooling for children with (a) visual and (b) hearing impairments in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities. The department provides local authorities with capital funding to support them to meet this duty and has published allocations for £740 million in High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2025/26 financial year.Of this £740 million, Lincolnshire Council has been allocated £10.3 million. This funding can be used to improve access to schooling for children and young people with a variety of SEND, including visual and hearing impairments. It is intended to adapt schools to be more accessible, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.

How much her Department spent on equipment for civil servants to work from home in each of the last three years.

The department does not hold a complete central record of all spending on equipment to support home working. Information is only centrally recorded where the individual costs exceed £500.The department spent the following over the last three years on equipment which exceeded £500:Financial year Total spend on equipment exceeding £5002022/23£28,103.732023/24£53,675.592024/25£46,576To obtain comprehensive data which included spend on equipment below £500 for each of the last three years, it would be necessary to contact individual teams across the department, which would not be possible within the timeframe for responding to a Written Parliamentary Question, and would incur a disproportionate cost.

How many Young Futures Hubs she plans to create in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.To roll out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, the government will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas and will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs and where they may be located.The government will set out more details on timelines and locations in due course.

How many students from overseas have come from countries where there are travel restrictions for people with security clearance by country of origin.

The department does not collect this information.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential contribution of school food procurement to the resilience of the (a) fruit and (b) vegetable supply chain.

The new national procurement policy statement sets out requirements for government contracts, favouring products certified to high environmental standards that we think British producers operating to high standards are well-placed to meet.We are engaging with stakeholders on revising the school food standards to ensure the guidance supports our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history. The current standards state one or more portions of vegetables as an accompaniment and one or more portions of fruit must be provided every day, as well as at least three different fruits and three different vegetables each week. As with all aspects of the school food standards review, we will consider our approach to fruit and vegetable provision.

If she will introduce an equivalent to the statutory maternity allowance for self-employed adopters.

In the Department for Business and Trade’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ report, the government committed to a review of the parental leave system to ensure that it best supports working families. This will include consideration of support to self-employed people, including self-employed adopters.

How much capital funding she plans to provide to schools in Lincolnshire in 2026-27.

The department has recently announced over £1 billion of new capital investment to support local authorities to create mainstream school places needed by September 2028. £640 million will be allocated in the financial year 2026/27, of which Lincolnshire local authority will receive £23.9 million.Other capital budgets for 2026/27 will be decided as part of the ongoing multi-year spending review.

What steps she has taken to support grammar schools in Lincolnshire.

The national funding formula, and wider education policies, support all state-funded schools equally, including grammar schools.

How many children are on the SEND waiting list in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The department does not hold information on the number of children waiting to be assessed for an education, health and care (EHC) plan.The department collects information from local authorities on the number of requests for an EHC needs assessment, the number of EHC needs assessments carried out, and the number of EHC plans issued within the statutory 20 week timeframe. This data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2024.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of school buildings in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The department supports local authorities, academy trusts, and voluntary-aided school bodies responsible for the school estate by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support.We have increased funding to improve the condition of the estate to £2.1 billion for the 2025/26 financial year, up from £1.8 billion last year. Allocations are published on GOV.UK and are partly informed by consistent data on the condition of the estate collected by the department, reflecting the relative need of schools. This is in addition to our continued investment in the school rebuilding programme, including five schools in Lincolnshire, of which two are in the South Holland and The Deepings constituency.From 2021 to 2026, the department’s Condition Data Collection 2 programme is visiting every government-funded school and college in England to collect data about the condition of their buildings. This data is providing an updated and comprehensive picture of the condition of the school estate in England to support our capital funding policy and programmes. Information on the condition of schools, as assessed by Condition Data Collection 1, can be found here: https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2285521/files.

What steps is she taking to increase the number of apprenticeship starts in her Department.

We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity. This includes supporting the government's commitment to 2,000 digital apprenticeships through its TechTrack scheme by 2030 to improve digital skills and drive improvements and efficiency in public services.Additionally, a new cross-government level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, the ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’, will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026.The department also offers over 40 apprenticeship standards, from level 2 to level 7, as a development opportunity to all existing employees. Furthermore, most externally recruited entry grade vacancies are advertised as an apprenticeship. This ensures that we are also offering apprenticeships to external candidates, across most of our locations, as a route into the Civil Service.

What recent steps she has taken to reduce fraudulent claims for student loans.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has asked the Public Sector Fraud Authority to coordinate action against the threat of the student funding system being exploited. The department will act on its findings and take quick decisions on whether we need to make more fundamental changes to the system.There is a programme of investigations underway between the department and the Office for Students. Where investigations find abuse of the student finance system there will be serious consequences. The department will always take steps to recover student funding that has been paid in respect of students who have, for example, not been attending their courses. Depending on the precise circumstances, recovery will be pursued either from the institution or the student.The Student Loans Company (SLC) is responsible for processing student funding loan applications and delivering student funding in line with student support regulations.The SLC continues to monitor student funding applications for suspicious activity and will investigate where there are any concerns around individual applications or a collection of funding applications. Where fraudulent claims are identified, the SLC follows its published sanctions model which can result in individuals being ‘unfitted’ for support, and/or report to Cifas, a fraud prevention service in the United Kingdom.