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 18-year-olds have taken (a) three and (b) more than three A-levels in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire in each of the last five academic years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The requested data can be found in the attached table.
Data is based on students attending schools and colleges located in each geography who have reached the end of 16 to 18 study.
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 funding she plans to provide for school infrastructure in (a) South Holland district and (b) South Kesteven district in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
School buildings are integral to high and rising standards and need to be fit for the future. The department has announced, for the 2025/26 financial year, capital funding allocations for school condition and for funding high needs capacity.
Mainstream basic need allocations have been published for the 2025/26 to 2027/28 financial years. Other funding plans for 2026/27 and beyond will be confirmed following the multi-year spending review.
We are increasing capital funding to improve the condition of school buildings to £2.1 billion for the 2025/26 financial year, up from £1.8 billion for 2024/25. As part of this, Lincolnshire County Council, which includes South Holland and South Kesteven districts, has been provisionally allocated a school condition allocation (SCA) of £5,873,159 to invest across its maintained schools. Maintained schools in Lincolnshire have also been provisionally allocated a total of £913,014 in devolved formula capital (DFC) to spend on their own capital priorities.
Large multi-academy trusts and large voluntary aided school bodies have also been provisionally allocated SCA, but allocations typically span across district and local authority boundaries. Smaller multi-academy and single academy trusts and sixth form colleges were instead eligible to apply to the Condition Improvement Fund, with outcomes due to be published later in the spring. Eligible non-maintained schools in Lincolnshire have also been provisionally allocated DFC. Final allocations will follow later in the spring.
In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme is rebuilding or significantly refurbishing buildings at over 500 schools, including Tulip Academy and University Academy Long Sutton in South Holland.
The department has published £740 million in High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) for the 2025/26 financial year, to support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings. Of this, Lincolnshire County Council has been allocated £10.3 million.
Lincolnshire County Council has also been allocated just over £39 million of basic need capital grant over the current and next two financial years, to support it to create the mainstream school places needed by September 2028.
The department has recently announced 300 successful applicants for the school-based nursery capital grant, including two within the South Holland and the Deepings Parliamentary constituency.
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 progress her Department has made on ensuring that every school in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire has a defibrillator.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All state-funded schools in South Holland and the Deepings that did not already have a defibrillator received them under the department’s programme, which has now closed.
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 she plans to remove funding for level 6 apprenticeships.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Level 6 apprenticeships are a core part of the department’s apprenticeships offer and continue to be funded by government.
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 improve mental health support for children with special educational needs in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Schools are required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils they support and, in the case of mainstream settings, to use their best endeavours to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support they need. All schools should apply the ‘graduated approach’ that is outlined in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) code of practice, which means identifying a child’s needs, planning appropriate support, implementing that support and reviewing it regularly to ensure it continues to meet the identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils.
We will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. Further information on the support, as at 31 March 2024, for pupil's provided by NHS-funded mental health support teams in Lincolnshire schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision.
The department will also recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures hubs with access to mental health support workers.
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 training in the workplace will be a condition of support under the growth and skills levy.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government’s first mission is to kickstart economic growth. We know that skills gaps are holding back business growth and that we need to support employers to invest in skills training. Our new levy-funded growth and skills offer will introduce greater flexibility to employers and learners in England, creating routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, aligned with the government’s industrial strategy.
The new training offer will include shorter duration apprenticeships. From August 2025, subject to the legislative timetable, the minimum duration of an apprenticeship will be reduced to eight months. This change means apprentices will be able to achieve occupational competence more quickly, where appropriate.
The department will also introduce foundation apprenticeships for young people, a work-based offer providing high-quality progression pathways into further work-based training and employment, including occupationally specific apprenticeships.
These are the first steps in expanding the apprenticeships offer into a wider levy-funded growth and skills offer that works better for employers, individuals and the wider economy. The government has established Skills England to form a coherent national picture of skills gaps across all sectors and to help shape the technical education system so that it is responsive to skills needs. This will include advising on priorities for the new growth and skills offer.
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 proportion of the growth and skills levy will be reserved for apprenticeship training.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government’s first mission is to kickstart economic growth. We know that skills gaps are holding back business growth and that we need to support employers to invest in skills training. Our new levy-funded growth and skills offer will introduce greater flexibility to employers and learners in England, creating routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, aligned with the government’s industrial strategy.
The new training offer will include shorter duration apprenticeships. From August 2025, subject to the legislative timetable, the minimum duration of an apprenticeship will be reduced to eight months. This change means apprentices will be able to achieve occupational competence more quickly, where appropriate.
The department will also introduce foundation apprenticeships for young people, a work-based offer providing high-quality progression pathways into further work-based training and employment, including occupationally specific apprenticeships.
These are the first steps in expanding the apprenticeships offer into a wider levy-funded growth and skills offer that works better for employers, individuals and the wider economy. The government has established Skills England to form a coherent national picture of skills gaps across all sectors and to help shape the technical education system so that it is responsive to skills needs. This will include advising on priorities for the new growth and skills offer.
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 raise awareness of apprenticeships in (a) rural and (b) remote areas.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity and to grow the economy.
The department continues to raise awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships across the country, including in rural areas. This includes promoting apprenticeships to young people, adults and employers through the Skills for Life campaign. The department also supports the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network, a network of over 2,000 volunteer employers and former and current apprentices, who volunteer their time to inform and inspire the next generation of apprentices and apprentice employers.
The department is transforming career opportunities and advice to increase awareness of the range of high-quality options available to young people, including apprenticeships.
The department has committed to guarantee two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person, as well as to establish a national jobs and careers service to support people into successful long-term employment.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make a comparative assessment of trends in the levels of academic attainment from children in schools that (a) have and (b) have not banned smartphones in the last 12 months.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools should prohibit the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime, as set out in the ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance 2024. The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.
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 information her Department holds on the number of exclusions from schools in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 academic years.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Information on suspensions and permanent exclusions is published at local authority level in the ‘Suspension and permanent exclusion in England’ statistics publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/suspensions-and-permanent-exclusions-in-england/2022-23.
The number and rates of suspensions and permanent exclusions in Lincolnshire for the 2022/23 academic year can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f3101754-5b43-45c4-f1c2-08dd5cc661f7.
The number and rates of suspensions and permanent exclusions in Lincolnshire for the autumn term 2023/24 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3293a161-d7dd-414d-0e59-08dd5ccbf23a. Data for the full 2023/24 academic year will be published in July 2025.
Suspensions and permanent exclusions data is also published at school level. This can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About School’ (GIAS) to identify Parliamentary constituency. GIAS currently reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes. GIAS is available at the following link: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.