Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on interpreters and related translation services in 2025.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s spend on interpretation and translation services totalled £10,114.88. This related to translation requirements associated with year 6 of the Turing Scheme and typesetting and translation of Childcare Choices leaflets.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve post-16 education and skills training provision in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to improving post-16 education and skills provision in all areas, including Lincolnshire, so young people and adults can access the training they need to succeed and support economic growth.
We are delivering record investment in further education and skills, with over £18 billion of programme funding for post-16 education and skills each year and 16 to 19 programme funding rising to over £9 billion in the 2026/27 academic year. We are also investing in college capacity, estates and technical education, alongside reforms creating clearer pathways through A levels, V levels, T Levels, Occupational Certificates and Foundation Certificates.
The Greater Lincolnshire Local Skills Improvement Plan is bringing employers, providers and the combined authority together to identify and address local skills needs. The Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority has also recently taken on responsibility for the Adult Skills Fund, giving local leaders greater flexibility to tailor adult skills provision to the needs of learners and employers across the country.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department (a) uses or (b) is taking steps to install rooftop solar panels on its premises.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Department for Education occupies premises owned, leased, and managed by the Government Property Agency (GPA) who are responsible for building assets, including the installation and use of rooftop solar panels.
The department is engaging with GPA through its Net Zero Programme to track progress in this area and understands GPA intends to undertake feasibility studies and energy audits at a number of sites during this financial year to assess opportunities for rooftop solar panel installation.
Funding support for public bodies to install solar panels has been available through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme with a total of over £3 billion made available up 2028. Great British Energy (GBE) also supports public sector decarbonisation and the GBE Solar programme is investing £255 million to fund around 250 schools, around 260 NHS sites, and around 15 military sites to install solar panels across the country.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department were on permanent home working contracts in 2025.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
For the year commencing 1 April 2025, the average number of employees in the department on permanent homeworking contracts was 70, a proportion of less than 1% of the department (with an average of 8,081 employees for the same period).
Staff typically have a permanent homeworking contract either for historical reasons (such as a contractual right that was preserved on TUPE transferring in to the department) or as a reasonable adjustment under the Employment Rights Act.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department monitors the amount of food waste generated by its offices each month.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not monitor the amount of food waste generated by its offices each month. Separation of food waste sits under the contract the Government Property Agency has with its Workplace Service providers.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on activities relating to Pride Month 2026.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not incurred any expenditure on activities related to Pride Month 2026.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has hired external public relations consultants since July 2024.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ministers have not hired external public relations (PR) consultants since July 2024.
The department currently contracts its PR services through agencies. These contracts are procured via commercial routes, with all contracts publicly available and published via Contracts Finder. There have been no new procurements in PR since July 2024.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has appointed anyone from outside the civil service other than special advisers since July 2024.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has appointed 19 individuals, excluding Civil Servants and Special Advisers, through the route of regulated public and unregulated public appointments, and direct ministerial appointments.
All appointees made through these routes into the department are published at: https://apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/announcements and https://apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/direct-ministerial-appointments-announcements.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many agency staff were employed by her Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The figures below reflect the number of agency staff, specialist contractors and interim managers (contingent workers) employed by the department in the following financial years:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire will begin offering free breakfast clubs from September 2026.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
More than 1,400 schools will join the free breakfast club programme from September, offering a free breakfast club to all pupils from reception to year 6. This brings the total number of schools on the programme to more than 2,700 from September. This includes 56 schools within Lincolnshire and 3 schools in South Holland and the Deepings:
For this first year of national rollout, places on the free breakfast club programme were offered to schools with primary provision who have higher levels of disadvantage, and to schools on the food-only national school breakfast programme. The full list of more than 2,700 schools on the programme is available on GOV.UK.
New schools will be onboarded in stages throughout 2027/28 to ensure we can continue to provide appropriate support to ensure successful delivery.