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 remove asbestos from schools in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
I refer the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings to the answer of 4 September 2025 of Question 70188.
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 spent money on social media influencers since July 2024.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has spent money on social media influencers since July 2024. Influencers can be effective in reaching audiences that the government and traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.
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 schools are taking part in the Early Language Support for Every Child programme in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinder programme, co-led by the department and NHS England, is a test and learn programme trialling new approaches to support earlier identification, intervention and targeted support for children with speech, language and communication needs, helping them thrive in mainstream settings and ensuring every child has the best possible start in life.
Nationally, therapy support teams have reached over 20,000 children and over 3,000 staff members have been upskilled to deliver interventions since the programme began.
The programme is being delivered through nine regional ELSEC pathfinder sites, each comprising a mix of early years and primary school settings. In the East Midlands, Leicestershire, Leicester City and Rutland are the designated pathfinder local areas and therefore there are no schools within South Holland and The Deepings involved in ELSEC.
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 level of teaching of the works of William Shakespeare in secondary schools in England.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The national curriculum for English aims to ensure an appreciate of our rich and varied literary heritage. It encourages pupils to read a range of books, poems, and plays to foster the development of a lifelong love of literature.
Maintained schools must follow the English programmes of study, and once passed, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will extend this requirement to academies.
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 level of teaching of the canon of English literature in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The national curriculum for English aims to ensure an appreciate of our rich and varied literary heritage. It encourages pupils to read a range of books, poems, and plays to foster the development of a lifelong love of literature.
Maintained schools must follow the English programmes of study, and once passed, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will extend this requirement to academies.
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 Ofsted has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Janet Daby
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.
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 Ofqual has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Janet Daby
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.
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 the Teaching Regulation Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Janet Daby
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 Year | Cost |
2022/23 | £0 |
2023/24 | £0 |
2024/25 | £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.
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 the Education and Skills Funding Agency spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Janet Daby
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 Year | Total spend on equipment exceeding £500 |
2022/23 | £28,103.73 |
2023/24 | £53,675.59 |
2024/25 | £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.
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 the Standards and Testing Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Janet Daby
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.