Written questions by Hayes.

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 many asylum applications have been rejected on the grounds of disputed nationality in each of the last five years.

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.The Home Office uses several processes and tools to identify a claimant’s nationality and other identifying features.

With reference to the Written Statement of 30 June 2025 on Nuclear Test Veteran records exercise and the Merlin database, HCWS748, which office the staff that are reviewing (a) the Merlin Database and (b) other archives are based in.

Teams from across the Ministry of Defence are involved in the Nuclear Test Veterans records exercise, and have reviewed so far over 43,000 files. The files in scope of the records exercise are primarily being reviewed by each of the Single Service Historic Branches and the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE). The release of the Merlin database to the National Archives is being led by the Defence Nuclear Organisation with AWE preparing the records for release.

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

The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly. However, contractual homeworking is a type of flexible working arrangement where an employee and the department agree to change the employee’s designated place of work to their home address. The Civil Service position on contractual home working agreements is that these are not routinely approved other than for a very small number of relevant roles, or where a workplace adjustment is agreed in respect of a disability under the Equality Act or occasionally as a redundancy mitigation. Civil servants are expected to spend at least 60 percent of their time in the office or on official business, which can include conducting site visits or meeting stakeholders. The Scotland Office is required by The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 to ensure that workstation users, including those who work from home, perform a suitable and sufficient analysis of their workstation. Before purchasing equipment, users must complete mandatory health and safety training, a homeworking checklist, a Display Screen Equipment self-assessment, and obtain line manager approval. The Scotland Office spent:● £110.45 in Financial Year 2022/23;● £742.85 in Financial Year 2023/24;● £0 in Financial Year 2024/25.

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

The Attorney General’s Office operates 60% minimum office attendance for most staff and hybrid working. To support staff working at home the department offers a contribution to equipment. The cost to the department in each of the last three years is £284.00 in 2023, £578.32 in 2024, and £214.94 in 2025.

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

This information is not centrally held. The Office has a hybrid working policy and all staff are issued with a laptop and mobile phone to allow remote working where necessary. Staff are expected to spend at least 60 per cent of their time in the office or on official business, which can include conducting site visits or meeting stakeholders.

Media and Sport, if she will take steps to promote timebanking to support social inclusion.

Although government does not currently promote a specific form of social action such as timebanking, we are strongly committed to supporting social action in all its forms and recognise its role in supporting social inclusion in local communities. Timebanking can be a fantastic way to encourage more people to get involved and make a difference in their local area and help to foster social connections. It is hugely positive to see just how many organisations offer some form of timebanking or time credits to incentivise people to give their time freely for social good.

What recent steps she has taken to promote timebanking in job centres.

Our Get Britain Working plan aims to reduce economic inactivity levels and take the first steps to delivering our long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive, to succeed and flourish. Support includes identifying skills gaps and referral to skills training, careers advice, job search support, and volunteering opportunities. Work Coaches will work with customer to identify transferable skills relevant to the opportunities available. Our Employer and Partnership Teams work with employers and partners to bring vacancies and provisions closer to our customers.

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

The Northern Ireland Office has spent the following on the provision of equipment for use at home in order to facilitate workplace adjustments:YearExpenditure2022£2,103.232023£27.982024£22.09 The Northern Ireland Office has adopted the Civil Service Smarter Working model, with the majority of our staff designated as hybrid workers. As set out by the Cabinet Office, staff are expected to spend a minimum of 3 days a week, or 60% of their time in the office, or on official visits.

Communities and Local Government, how much her Department has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.

The cost to provide Digital equipment to enable staff to work effectively from home for the 3 years 07/07/2022 to 06/07/2025 is £272,301.85.

What information her Department holds on the number of settlements that do not have a daily bus service in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The Department for Transport does not readily hold this information, however local bus timetable data is available to download from the Bus Open Data Service: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-and-use-bus-open-data.The government believes that local transport authorities, working with bus operators, are best placed to determine and design local bus networks in their area. The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December 2024 to put the power over local bus services back into the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities that rely on them, including in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and across Lincolnshire.In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Lincolnshire County Council has been allocated £11.9 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce improvements to bus services and infrastructure to best meet the needs of passengers in their local area. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to bus services in this Spending Review by confirming continued funding each year from 26/27 to maintain and improve vital bus services, including taking forward bus franchising pilots, and extending the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027.

How much 10 Downing Street spent on equipment for (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers to work from home in each of the last three years.

This information is not centrally held. All staff are issued with a laptop and mobile to allow remote working where necessary. 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.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of pylons in the Grimsby to Walpole project on the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The Government does not make assessments of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) unless they are submitted to the relevant Secretary of State for a final decision. Currently this project is at the pre-application stage. As for all NSIPs the developer should comprehensively assess the potential effects of their proposals within their application. This includes assessments of their project’s potential effects on landscape, visual character, and ecological integrity as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment. The scope of any assessment should be agreed between the applicant, relevant statutory consultees, and the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the relevant Secretary of State.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department has spent on equipment to enable civil servants to work from home in each of the last three years.

Heads of departments have agreed that 60 per cent minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. All Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) staff in the UK are eligible to apply for hybrid working. At post, hybrid working for Country Based Staff is at the discretion of the Head of Mission.FCDO policy is to ensure provision to all staff with safe and appropriate equipment for homeworking in line with Health and Safety legislation. There are cost limits for equipment and this must be solely for the purpose of enabling staff to work from home.Data on home working expenditure is not tracked separately and is spread across various expense codes and expenditure types. Isolating this would require manual review of large volumes of data over three years, making it impractical to extract reliably without disproportionate effort and cost.

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

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero does not hold this information centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

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

The Department for Transport provides equipment that enables staff to work across multiple locations, including from home where appropriate. This includes meeting legal obligations to provide reasonable workplace adjustments for staff who require them.However, the Department does not record expenditure in a way that separately identifies costs specifically related to home working. Additionally, the Department’s hybrid working policy is non-contractual and does not entitle staff to additional equipment or to be reimbursed for items to facilitate home working.

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

We are unable to provide this information without incurring disproportionate costs.

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

The Department has spent the following amounts on equipment for its staff to work from home in each financial year:£79,625 in 2022/23;£118,757 in 2023/24; and£130,745 in 2024/25.

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

The information requested is not centrally held in an easily accessible form, and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

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

The Department embraces flexible working arrangements where appropriate.In some cases the Department may provide additional equipment to support flexible working patterns, but to gather the costs of these across the Department would require disproportionate time.