Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Ministers, special advisers, and officials in HM Treasury have access to HMT-GPT, our internal AI tool which is built on Claude and ChatGPT, and Copilot, which have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use.

The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted. Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the UK–EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement on the farming sector in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)

This Government is currently negotiating the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement with the EU to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and removing trade barriers for British producers and retailers.

Details of the agreement are subject to ongoing negotiations. This Government will follow normal processes for any necessary legislative changes and assess impacts accordingly.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much his Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

This detail of information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, whether her Department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Attorney General’s Office does not permit the use of external generative artificial intelligence tools of the type referenced in the Question, unless they have been formally approved and assessed as meeting the required security and data protection standards.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

This information is not held in the requested format and could only be collated at a disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not spent any money on advertising on podcasts in any of the last three years.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

The Department provides officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials are directed to use these tools for official duties.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the cross-government Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

Defra officials are currently permitted to access Microsoft Chat and Copilot through the Departments Enterprise agreement. Microsoft CoPilot enables controlled access to Chat GPT. Access to DeepSeek is explicitly prohibited and prevented by network rules. Google Gemini, Claude and Grok are accessible for the purposes of exploration or experimentation. Access has been provisioned under the strictest of guidance to caution against entering any personal, sensitive or restricted data. In all cases, the use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, is not permitted for official business.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

This response provides details of the Ministry of Defence's advertising expenditure on podcasts over the last three calendar years. The information has been provided by the single Services, as most advertising expenditure supports recruitment efforts.

All spending is subject to scrutiny and regular review to ensure it delivers value for money.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The department has spent £0 on advertising on podcasts over the last three years.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to support SEND pupils in Lincolnshire with their studies.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The department and NHS England have been supporting the Local Area Partnership (LAP) in Lincolnshire to improve its special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services through the development of their strategic plan, with regular engagement meetings. The LAP is currently developing their SEND reform plan, commissioned by the department in March 2026, and due for submission in June 2026.

From September, the government is providing upfront investment for schools, colleges and early years providers to intervene early in meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND, through our inclusive mainstream fund worth £1.6 billion over three years.

In addition, every local area is being funded to create a new Experts at Hand service, providing mainstream education settings with access to healthcare professionals like speech and language therapists and education experts such as educational psychologists to work directly with children and support staff to put in place appropriate support and interventions.

We will roll out a new national training programme supporting educators to identify and respond to children’s needs backed by £200 million investment, to train staff across nurseries, schools and colleges with the first wave of training materials coming online from September.

This is supported by investment to create an additional 60,000 school places for children with SEND through inclusion bases, new special or alternative provision school places and adaptations to mainstream, ensuring appropriate education facilities for all our children.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly-available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

DCMS currently permits the use of a secure enterprise instance of Google Gemini for all official duties.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Catherine Atkinson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

This information is not held in the requested format.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department does not permit civil servants employed in the UK to work overseas on a regular basis. In a small number of cases, staff may be permitted to work overseas for a short, defined period and for limited reasons, including where urgent work required them to remain contactable while on leave.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Ministers do not permit employees to work from overseas on a regular basis. Employees are able to request an exception to work from overseas for a temporary period of time in the following limited circumstances. These include short-term situations, such as bereavement or urgent care responsibilities, where there are no alternatives, when accompanying a Civil Service partner who has been posted overseas for an agreed period of time or a UK Armed Forces or Ministry of Defence civilian partner on an overseas posting, or when working in an official capacity on departmental business.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

While it is possible to support employees who want to work from outside of the UK there is no right to do so and in many cases support will be impossible. The department does not allow people to work from outside of the UK without assessing risk on a case-by-case basis. The country the employee is asking to work from, the location within the country, the working arrangements and nature of the work the employee would be doing are examples of relevant factors. If an employee needs to take a department device abroad or they want to access our systems when they are overseas, they must get approval first.

There are policy limits on the amount of time any employee may be allowed to work outside of the UK. This is currently 2 weeks at any one time unless the employee is accompanying a partner on an overseas civil service posting. The actual limit will vary according to the circumstances of the request. There is also an annual limit on the amount of time anyone can work outside of the UK of no more than 6 weeks in any 12 month period.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) does not permit civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

Staff in my Department may travel overseas on authorised short-term trips when required as part of their official duties.

Staff may request temporary International Remote Working for personal reasons only in very limited circumstances, such as compassionate grounds involving a seriously ill relative overseas, or to accompany a spouse or partner on a diplomatic or other Government posting abroad. All requests are assessed case by case, taking full account of operational requirements and risk, and always require prior senior approval.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps she has taken to help improve road safety in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

On 7 January 2026 we published our new Road Safety Strategy, setting out our vision for a safer future on our roads for all. This aims to improve road safety at a national level, with benefits seen across the country, including South Holland and the Deepings.

South Holland and the Deepings sits within the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, which will receive a consolidated Mayoral Transport Fund of £606,913,184 from 2026/2027 to 2029/2030. This funding can be used to improve local transport outcomes such as road safety, active travel and highways maintenance.

The Road Safety Strategy sets an ambitious target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65%, and 70% for children under 16, by 2035. These targets and delivery of the Strategy will be supported and monitored by a new Road Safety Board, which I chair.

Road safety is a shared responsibility, and this strategy reflects that. It considers action needed by government, local authorities, industry, emergency services and communities to tackle the causes of collisions and save lives, making our roads safer for everyone.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase support for voluntary and charitable organisations providing dementia support services in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is empowering local leaders with the autonomy they need to provide the best services to their local community, including for those with dementia.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs) and may include dementia support services provided by charitable organisations. We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

In addition, the 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will work towards a Neighbourhood Health Service, with more care delivered locally to create healthier communities, spot problems earlier, and integrate health into the social fabric of places.

Neighbourhood health gives us a significant opportunity to radically change how resources are deployed across health, social care, and wider services in local communities. There needs to be a stronger focus on prevention and early intervention, both to improve outcomes for people and to reduce pressure on both the National Health Service and local government services.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Overseas remote working is only permitted on a temporary basis; permanent working outside the UK in a DBT role is not allowed.

Approval is granted in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a family funeral), before or after annual leave visiting family/friends, or accompanying a spouse or accredited partner on a UK Civil Service or Military posting.

Time limits vary: up to three months for exceptional circumstances, and three weeks at a time (maximum four weeks in a rolling 12‑month period) for working around annual leave.

Exceptional circumstances including bereavement are not regular occurrences.

Remote working is not permitted in FCDO high-risk countries.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been refused Electronic Travel Authorisation on the basis that their presence may not be conducive to the public good since 2024.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Between 1 January 2024 and 11 June 2026, 2,640 people have been refused an Electronic Travel Authorisation on the basis that their presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of dangerous driving offences in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office holds information on the number of offences recorded by the police that were classified as death or serious injury - unlawful driving. Lincolnshire Police recorded 23 offences in this category in the year ending December 2025, an increase from 7 the previous year. Nationally, there has been an increase in the number of these offences recorded by the police since the category was amended to include serious injury, as well as death, in April 2023.

Further information on these offences can be found in the Home Office Police Recorded Crime Open Data Tables, available here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department permits (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials to use (i) Chat GPT, (ii) Google Gemini, (iii) Claude, (iv) Deepseek and (v) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the cross-government Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have rolled out Microsoft Copilot across the Department as its approved AI tool to support the work of all staff. In specialist Digital and Data Science teams the use of Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude and OpenAI GPT models is also being permitted.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

The Scotland Office does not permit civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her departments permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude (d) Deepseek or (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

My Department’s international remote working policy allows employees to make an application to work remotely overseas for a short, defined period of time and for a number of limited reasons. Approval of such a request is subject to the employee having the legal right to work in the country and the necessary security and other clearances.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

There is no contractual right for DfT staff to work from a location outside the UK. In some circumstances, DfT may post employees overseas for official business purposes.

Employees may also be required to travel overseas for business purposes, for example, to attend conferences or meetings on a regular or intermittent basis. The frequency of business travel requirements may vary depending on the specific demands of the Department and is subject to the necessary internal security approvals.

DfT’s International Remote Working policy permits employees to request to work overseas to accompany a partner/spouse on an official Civil Service or military posting, lasting 4 months or longer, subject to the necessary approvals.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP policy does not allow civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis. Civil servants can be authorised to travel from the UK to conduct official business if necessary, returning to the UK after the conclusion of that business.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department permits (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials to use (i) Chat GPT, (ii) Google Gemini, (iii) Claude, (iv) Deepseek and (v) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence provides Ministers, special advisers and officials with access to secure, enterprise‑grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Treasury employees may only request temporary overseas working for personal reasons in very limited circumstances. Such requests are considered on a case-by-case basis, fully taking account of operational requirements and risk.

Any approved arrangements are time‑limited, with employees able to work overseas for up to two weeks at a time and no more than four weeks in any rolling 12‑month period, and always subject to prior senior approval.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether her Department permits (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials to use (i) Chat GPT, (ii) Google Gemini, (iii) Claude, (iv) Deepseek and (v) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

The Wales Office is not currently using the AI tools listed above.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the cross-government Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales

Nothing. The Wales Office has not spent any money on advertising on podcasts in the last three years.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help support the level of footfall on high streets in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Nesil Caliskan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

This Government is fully committed to rejuvenating our high streets. Later this year, we will bring forward a High Streets Strategy, backed by £301 million of support, to help turn the tide on the high streets most in need. The funding will support the creation of new High Streets Innovation Partnerships to reimagine and revive the country’s most struggling high streets and includes a further £10 million to support councils to deliver High Street Rental Auctions to reduce high street vacancy.

This comes alongside the £5.8bn Pride in Place Programme, with Boston, Spalding, and Skegness receiving £20m each over 10 years to be used by local people to shape their neighbourhood.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his department is taking to support increased participation in higher apprenticeships among young people in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

This Government is transforming the Apprenticeships Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England, backed by £1 billion of additional investment, which will support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships and give employers, including in South Holland and the Deepings, greater flexibility to develop the workforce they need to grow and succeed.

To support non-levy paying employers (typically SMEs) to meet the additional costs associated with employing young apprentices, we are introducing a new apprenticeship hiring payment of £2,000 when they take on eligible 16–24-year-old apprentices, at all levels, as new employees.

Additionally, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers for all eligible young people aged under 25 from the next academic year, to boost small business starts. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16 to 21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care.

We also provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care.

The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises over 3,000 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England, including in Lincolnshire, through nine regional networks. These networks provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.

For young people, aged 16-24, on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are also introducing a new Youth Guarantee Journey. As part of the journey, every young person will be provided with tailored employment support and a structured path into a job, apprenticeship, work experience, SWAP, learning or training from their first appointment in the Jobcentre. This support can also be delivered at a Youth Hub.

Over the next three years we are establishing Youth Hubs in over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support. Young people in areas where Youth Hubs will open later in the three year period will still receive the full breadth of Youth Guarantee support.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve both the productivity of our workforce, and the quality of the services we deliver to the millions of people who rely on us. The Department’s principal AI tool for official use is Copilot Chat, which is provided securely under its Microsoft agreement. Access to the listed AI systems, with the exception of DeepSeek, is permitted but security controls apply which prevents copying, pasting and file transfer. Use of such systems is monitored to ensure compliance with departmental data handling and security policies.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has a clear policy on International Remote Working (IRW), which is only permitted in very limited circumstances, either on compassionate grounds for up to four weeks where an employee has a seriously ill relative abroad, or to enable an employee to accompany their spouse/partner on a Diplomatic or other Government posting abroad. No other IRW is permitted.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

This information is not held in the requested format.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the cross-government Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department permits (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials to use (i) Chat GPT, (ii) Google Gemini, (iii) Claude, (iv) Deepseek and (v) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which sets out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

In DESNZ, Microsoft 365 Copilot is available to officials within the secure Microsoft 365 environment. Copilot integrates with departmental data under existing access controls, and includes Claude models in some Copilot experiences and agents.

Ministers and Special Advisers are granted access to M365 Copilot for departmental duties when using a DESNZ account and a DESNZ device.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland

The Scotland Office has spent nil on advertising on podcasts in the last three years.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure all major trauma centres and specialist hospitals in Lincolnshire have onsite helipad access.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Funding for helipads is decided by individual acute trusts, based in clinical requirements and reflecting the need for suitable infrastructure for an air ambulance to land.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the take-up of Pension Credit amongst eligible pensioners in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to ensuring that all pensioners receive the support to which they are entitled. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign across the whole of Great Britain, promoting Pension Credit to eligible pensioners and their families. The campaign has featured advertising on television and radio, including Greatest Hits Radio, Classic FM, Smooth and Hits Radio Lincolnshire. The campaign has also featured in the national and local press, including advertorials in the Lincolnshire Echo, Grantham Journal, Lincolnshire Free Press, Spalding Guardian and the Stamford Mercury. Adverts have also appeared across social media and on digital screens in GP surgeries and Post Offices screens, including at 13 locations across Lincolnshire. The latest campaign burst launched in May 2026.

We are also using data to target potentially eligible households. For example, since February 2025 all new Housing Benefit claimants who may be eligible have been invited to apply for Pension Credit. We also conducted a trial with Age UK and Independent Age targeting 2,000 households in England, testing whether it is possible to identify potentially eligible households using HMRC and DWP data.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether his Department permits (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials to use (i) Chat GPT, (ii) Google Gemini, (iii) Claude, (iv) Deepseek and (v) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

The Scotland Office uses an approved version of Google Gemini which is configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the cross-government Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department permits (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials to use (i) Chat GPT, (ii) Google Gemini, (iii) Claude, (iv) Deepseek and (v) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their Department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a Department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the cross-government Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

Currently, the Ministry of Justice has an enterprise agreement with OpenAI – the provider of ChatGPT, an approved tool for official use within the Department.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that have been approved by their department for official use.

Within the department, colleagues are encouraged to use Microsoft Copilot Chat as the approved enterprise chatbot. Claude is also sanctioned for use by a limited number of technical staff. These tools are configured to ensure departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models.

The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Grok and DeepSeek is not permitted for use with departmental information.

The use of generative AI across government is governed by the Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

This information is not held in the requested format.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

No. DCMS civil servants are not permitted to work from overseas on a regular basis. In line with departmental security and HR processes DCMS staff may be permitted temporary, short and time limited working arrangements overseas, in exceptional circumstances.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services.

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The use of generative AI across Government is governed by the cross-government Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

The Department has an artificial intelligence policy and clear guidance in place governing the use of such tools. This guidance is aligned with the AI Playbook.

The Department has implemented Microsoft Copilot for use in its official business. Microsoft Copilot is available to all officials who hold an official Departmental IT account.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not spent any funds on podcast advertising within the last three years.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not permit civil servants to work overseas on a regular basis. The Department has a policy for staff to work remotely overseas for short defined periods of time if travelling on official business, where there is a critical business need or unforeseen personal circumstance that require them to work while outside of the United Kingdom. All requests for international working are considered on a case‑by‑case basis, balancing a clear business need against security risks, with approval granted only where those risks can be appropriately mitigated.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

As the Rt Hon Member will understand, the nature of the work done by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office means that UK-based staff are regularly deployed overseas.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve integration between NHS services and social care provision in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is committed to improving integration between health and social care services nationally and locally. Our vision for neighbourhood health will see the National Health Service and local government working more closely together. In March 2026 we published a Neighbourhood Health Framework to empower local leaders to develop and scale neighbourhood health. The framework is designed to provide clarity and consistency to support joined-up partnership working between integrated care boards and local authorities, as they work together through Health and Wellbeing Boards and with their partners, to develop locally led Neighbourhood Health Plans.

The Better Care Fund forms an important enabler of neighbourhood health. It is a framework for integrated care boards and local authorities to make joint plans and pool budgets for the purposes of delivering better joined-up care. For 2026/27, local areas were required to start to align their plans for pooled funding with their wider approach to the development of neighbourhood health plans.

In September 2025, we launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 places across England, including North East Lincolnshire. The NNHIP has been supporting places accelerate their progress in developing neighbourhood health, capture impact, and share learning across the country.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra does not permit employees to work overseas on a regular basis and has a robust policy and application process for use in exceptional circumstances only. All exceptional cases must comply with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and other regulatory requirements and be authorised at a senior level.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Ministry of Justice uses the term international remote working (IRW) to describe working remotely outside the UK. IRW is defined as when an employee wants to undertake the full responsibilities of their role remotely from abroad, for a short-term and fixed period. It is different to official travel, and personal travel with access to Ministry of Justice devices/information assets for occasional and business critical reasons.

The Ministry of Justice IRW policy states that employees may request to work their full responsibilities from abroad in exceptional circumstances, for example, supporting a family member overseas who needs urgent and immediate help. Such arrangements may be approved for a maximum of 30 calendar days in a rolling 12-month period. Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and subject to a rigorous approval process.

The Ministry of Justice has delegated responsibility for these decisions and complies with FCDO and other relevant regulatory requirements when considering requests from employees to work temporarily overseas.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to improve mobile connectivity in hard-to-reach rural communities in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Our ambition is for all populated areas to have access to high quality standalone 5G by 2030. This includes harder to reach rural communities, as well as towns and cities. 4G connectivity also remains important for many and with the help of Government’s Shared Rural Network programme, 4G coverage is now available to 96% of UK landmass. The programme will continue to help deliver 4G connectivity improvements to some of the hardest to reach areas of the UK. The programme is expected to conclude in January 2027.

The rollout of higher quality standalone 5G is commercially led by the network operators. All three operators have committed to significant investment plans which align with this Government’s ambition. We are currently undertaking a Mobile Market Review with the aim of determining how Government can go further in supporting the sector to invest in high-quality connectivity right across the UK. A call for evidence supporting the review closed on 5 May, and Government will provide next steps later this year.

We are also committed to unlocking the barriers to telecoms deployment, including supporting mobile network rollout through our recent call for evidence on planning reform in England. We are considering responses and will determine next steps in due course.

As the first country in Europe to launch a direct-to-device satellite service, the UK is also leading the way in pioneering innovative solutions to enable calls and messaging in our most isolated areas.

Based on Ofcom’s Connected Nations reporting, as of January 2026, by aggregating the coverage in the 9 local and unitary authorities in Lincolnshire, we find that 97.8% of the landmass of Lincolnshire had 4G geographic coverage from all four mobile network operators (MNO), whilst standalone 5G was available outside 96.3% of premises across the county from at least one MNO. This compares to 84% of the UK landmass having 4G geographic coverage from all four MNOs, and standalone 5G being available outside 93% of UK premises from at least one operator.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her department permits (1) Ministers, (2) Special advisers and (3) officials to use (a) Chat GPT, (b) Google Gemini, (c) Claude, (d) Deepseek and (e) Grok as part of their official duties.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services. The Department for Transport published the Transport Action Plan in June 2025 which sets out the Departments approach to Artificial Intelligence.

The Department for Transport provides officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that the department has approved for official use.

The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, hosted outside DfT’s secure tenancy, such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek and Grok, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models. The Department does permit a small number of specialist trained officials access to Google Gemini and other LLMs through Google Cloud Platform, following an approval process, but this does not currently extend to Ministers or Special Advisors.

The use of generative AI across government is governed by the cross-government Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what sums her Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport’s spend on podcast advertising in each of the last three financial years is as follows:

Total: £688,920.29

*N.B: The 2025–26 total includes £432,412.88 of podcast advertising expenditure for the Electric Vehicles campaign, aimed at encouraging more people to switch to EVs. This activity is delivered by DfT but spend is allocated by DESNZ as part of the Clean Energy Mission. Excluding this expenditure, the DfT-only total is £166,041.14.

Found: John Hayes - Written Evidence on Falling Primary School Rolls – FPS0014 1.

Found: In essence, what happened is as follows: (1) In 2019, Sir John Hayes (Cons) was re-elected under FPTP