On one scheme alone, the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, they have to remember the difference between PDs, PfS, PUK, SBC, OBC, LEPs, SPAs, PQQs and FBCs - which may explain why it is taking so long to get the new schools built.

But some sense is beginning to prevail. One bright spark has spotted that people might confuse the department’s Rapid Implementation Group with the Rewards and Incentives Group. So now the first RIG has become the Information on Children, Education and Schools group (ICES) - a much jollier acronym, evoking lollipops at the seaside.