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 she has taken to support grammar schools in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The national funding formula, and wider education policies, support all state-funded schools equally, including grammar schools.
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 capital funding she plans to provide to schools in Lincolnshire in 2026-27.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of school buildings in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
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 children are on the SEND waiting list in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
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.
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 recent steps she has taken to reduce fraudulent claims for student loans.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
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 increase access to special educational needs assessments in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
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.
Through a graduated approach, teachers are responsible for monitoring the progress of all pupils and putting support in place where needed. Where a child who has special educational needs (SEN) needs more support than their school can usually provide, schools, parents or carers can ask the local authority to carry out an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment.
Local authorities must conduct EHC needs assessment if a child or young person has or may have SEN and it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made in accordance with an EHC plan.
The department recognises the critical role of educational psychologists within the SEND system, including their statutory contribution to EHC assessments. The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from 2024, building on the £10 million currently being invested in a cohort of over 200 trainees who began their training in 2023. Trainees will join the workforce to support the capacity of local authority educational psychology services, including in delivering assessments.
A joint local area SEND inspection of Lincolnshire Local Area Partnership (LAP) was undertaken by Ofsted/CQC in February 2025, and the report is expected to be published imminently. Following publication, the LAP will be required to update their strategic plan, and the department’s regional team will put in place systems to track outcomes against any areas for improvement identified by inspectors, and the progress made by children and young people with SEND.
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 she is taking to meet the demand for specialist SEND school places in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities.
This government knows that many children and young people with SEND struggle to find a suitable school placement that is close to their home and meets their needs. We are committed to addressing this by improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools to support a range of needs, reducing the need for pupils to travel a long way to access a specialist placement, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs. Many mainstream settings are already going above and beyond to deliver specialist provision locally, including through resourced provision and special educational needs units.
The department has now published allocations for £740 million in high needs provision capital allocations for the 2025/26 financial year, to support local authorities to deliver new specialist places.
Lincolnshire Council has been allocated £10.3 million for 2025/26, and it is up to the local authority to make decisions about the places they create and to prioritise this funding to meet local needs.
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 of the new school-based nurseries will be in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Under the school-based nurseries capital grant for 2024 to 2025, schools could apply to create or expand school-based nursery provision. This first phase funded 300 projects to make high-quality childcare more available and accessible for families, delivering on our Plan for Change to ensure a record proportion of children start school ready to learn. Seven schools received funding in the Lincolnshire local authority. Four schools will be opening new, school-run nurseries. There will be two in South Holland and The Deepings, one in Sleaford and North Hykeham, and one in Lincoln. The remaining funded projects are for expansions of existing nurseries. One in Boston and Skegness, one in Rutland and Stamford, and one in Gainsborough. The published list of successful projects is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-based-nursery-capital-grant-application-outcomes?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications-topic&utm_source=fe34fce2-3673-4d46-9ff6-d06d1c0d1cf8&utm_content=immediately.
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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of school transport available to parents of SEND children in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings to the answer of 30 December 2024 to Question 20796.
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 estimate her Department has made of the level of funding from Chinese firms into the UK education sector in the next ten years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
HM Government carefully considers the security implications of proposed investments, to reach a balanced decision between UK economic growth and national security.
As an open economy, the UK benefits from foreign trade and investment where it supports growth and jobs in the UK, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements and does not compromise our national security. No accurate estimates of future investments can be made for specific sectors.