Written questions by Hayes.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support wildlife conservation sites in Lincolnshire.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many agency staff were employed by her Department in each of the last five years.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to support arable farmers in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, other than special advisers if her Department has appointed anyone from outside the civil service since July 2024.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to monitor water usage nationally from the growth of data centres.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her department has estimated how many seabirds have died due to colliding with offshore wind turbines for each of the last five years.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many political appointees have been made by her department since July 2024.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the changes to Biodiversity Net Gain requirements on nature recovery in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has hired external public relations consultants since July 2024.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Defra does not permit employees to work overseas on a regular basis and has a robust policy and application process for use in exceptional circumstances only. All exceptional cases must comply with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)...

Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not spent any money on advertising on podcasts in any of the last three years.

Food and Rural Affairs, 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 offi

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 provides officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure,...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support young people in Lincolnshire entering the farming sector.

The Government recognises the importance of attracting young people into farming. Building on the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, Defra is developing a workforce strategy to equip people with skills for thriving careers in agriculture. This incl...

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the UK–EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement on the farming sector in Lincolnshire.

This Government is currently negotiating the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement with the EU to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and removing trade barriers for British producers and retailers. Details o...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support farmers in Lincolnshire with the increase in diesel prices.

Food security is a priority for the Government, and Defra is taking the impacts from the Middle East conflict seriously. The Government has increased the frequency of official fertiliser price reporting, now published by the AHDB on a weekly basis. This w...

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the last 12 months.

While no artificial intelligence (AI) tools are being used to draft legislation or policy at present, the Department has conducted exploratory initiatives for AI alongside other digital tools to assist drafters within legislation and policy domains. Defra...

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish a list of training programmes used by civil servants in her Department since 2020.

A list of training undertaken via the Civil-Service Learning Frameworks from January 2023 to March 2026, and course descriptors, are available via the Prospectus Online. Training data relating to the period prior to January 2023 is not accessible to the department. Training delivered internally or procured by the department outside of the Central Government Learning Frameworks over the last five years is not centrally available, and to obtain this information would result in disproportionate cost to the department; therefore this will not be published.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the last 12 months.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to boost flood defences in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

The Government is investing in flood risk management across South Holland and the Deepings through a combination of Flood Defence Grant in Aid and maintenance funding delivered by the Environment Agency and local partners. This funding supports the maintenance, repair and improvement of flood defence assets across the constituency. In 2026/27, £1.6 million of Flood Defence Grant in Aid was provided to the South Holland Internal Drainage Board for capital maintenance works to the Exeter Drain pipeline and channel in Spalding, and for improvements at the South Holland Main Drain outfall at Sutton Bridge Sluice. The Environment Agency continues to maintain flood defence infrastructure, including Surfleet Sluice, and is reviewing flood storage areas such as the Crowland and Cowbit Washes. In addition, Lincolnshire County Council received £7.18 million through Defra’s Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme to lead Project Groundwater, improving understanding of groundwater flood risk and community resilience.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Land Use Framework on Best and Most Versatile farmland in Lincolnshire.

The National Planning Policy Framework safeguards the best and most versatile land, which is the land most valuable for food production. Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.