After reviewing the docs in CGI, I see two problems with your use of hidden(). Here's what the docs have to say:

       CREATING A HIDDEN FIELD

               print $query->hidden(-name=>'hidden_name',
                                    -default=>['value1','value2'...]);

                       -or-

               print $query->hidden('hidden_name','value1','value2'...
+);

       hidden() produces a text field that can't be seen by the
       user.  It is useful for passing state variable information
       from one invocation of the script to the next.

       Parameters:

       1.  The first argument is required and specifies the name
           of this field (-name).

       2.  The second argument is also required and specifies its
           value (-default).  In the named parameter style of
           calling, you can provide a single value here or a
           reference to a whole list

       Fetch the value of a hidden field this way:

            $hidden_value = $query->param('hidden_name');

       Note, that just like all the other form elements, the
       value of a hidden field is "sticky".  If you want to
       replace a hidden field with some other values after the
       script has been called once you'll have to do it manually:

            $query->param('hidden_name','new','values','here');
[download]

So, the first problem is that hidden() doesn't have an argument called 'value'; it has 'default' instead. The second problem is that the default only applies if param('last_question') doesn't already have a value.

Here's how to get the result you want; set param('last_question') to the desired value first, and then call hidden():

param('last_question', $last_question);
print header,
   # ...
   hidden('last_question'),
   #...
   end_html;
[download]

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