Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made a recent estimate of the value of Russian owned assets held in the Overseas Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Overseas Territories (OTs) stand with the UK in condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine. The OTs have committed to implement UK sanctions in full. The Governments of the Territories take seriously their responsibility for the implementation and enforcement of sanctions within their jurisdictions. The Territories have frozen assets worth approximately US $9 billion. OT Governments have informed us that the vast majority of these assets belong to persons designated under the Russia sanctions regime.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 the consistent implementation of (a) Non-Specific Symptom pathways, (b) GP direct access and (c) NHS England Best Practice Timed Pathways to ensure (i) faster and (ii) earlier diagnosis of people with pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has completed the national roll-out of non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways to support faster diagnosis of cancer in patients who present with symptoms that do not align with a single cancer site.
We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in general practices (GPs), bringing total GP Contract spend to £13.4 billion in 2025/26, the biggest increase in over a decade. NHS England has also expanded GP direct access to diagnostic tests, enabling faster investigation of concerning symptoms.
The National Health Service has also launched a new £2 million programme which is funding 300 GPs to identify pancreatic cancer early by screening high-risk patients over 60 years old with new diabetes diagnoses and unexplained weight loss for urgent testing.
NHS England continues to implement Best Practice Timed Pathways to ensure consistent and faster diagnosis in line with the Faster Diagnosis Standard. Alongside this, it is working with Pancreatic Cancer UK on a Family History Checker to help individuals assess inherited risk, and has launched the National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Register, which supports earlier identification and screening of high-risk individuals.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of a national multi-cancer case finding programme to identify individuals at high risk of (a) pancreatic cancer and (b) all other cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is developing case-finding approaches for less survivable cancers where the evidence supports this, including pancreatic cancer.
This work includes the development of a public-facing Family History Checker in partnership with Pancreatic Cancer UK, which enables individuals and families affected by pancreatic cancer to assess inherited risk. Those identified as being at risk are referred directly to the European Registry of Hereditary Pancreatic Diseases research trial. Referrals can be made by any healthcare professional or by individuals via self-referral, contributing to a more consistent and centralised approach to case-finding.
The National Disease Registration Service has launched the National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Register, which identifies individuals at increased inherited risk of a wide range of cancers, including pancreatic cancer. The register supports targeted screening and surveillance and will act as an electronic referral route into national screening programmes where these exist.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many officials were investigated under their Department's disciplinary processes in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
In this instance, ‘disciplinary process’ has been defined as a misconduct and discpline case and ‘officials’ as Civil Servants. The table below shows the total number of misconduct cases over the last five years.
Financial Year | Number of Misconduct cases |
2020-21 | 151 |
2021-22 | 151 |
2022-23 | 209 |
2023-24 | 304 |
2024-25 | 334 |
The total numbers of misconduct cases that had full investigations is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to establish new statutory action standards for PFAS in drinking water.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Drinking Water Inspectorate published a report on 26 February 2025 recommending revisions to some of the parameters listed in the drinking water regulations; this included a new standard for PFAS. Defra and the DWI will work together to consider potential regulatory updates to England’s drinking water quality legislation based on these recommendations. DWI have issued guidance to water companies on PFAS. Concentrations of ‘sum of 48 PFAS’ reported as greater than 0.1 micrograms (or 100 nanograms) must be reported to the DWI as a water quality event and all necessary actions to reduce concentrations below this value must be taken. There is no evidence of PFAS above 0.1 micrograms (or 100 nanograms) in drinking water supplies.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will ask the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to respond to the coroner's Prevention of Future Death report following the death of Kenton Beasley.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Unfortunately, although the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency had prepared a reply to the coroner, an oversight meant it was not sent as intended. I can confirm that the DVLA has now responded to the coroner on 24 October.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps he has taken to support community cohesion in (a) the South East and (b) Slough.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG's Community Cohesion Unit works to support and promote cohesion across England, through working closely with local authorities, voluntary and community sector and faith organisations, and other government departments.
The government's new £2.87 million Common Ground Resilience Fund is supporting community connection and cohesion by funding locally led interventions to build community resilience. MHCLG will work with Slough Borough Council and other local authorities to deliver activities that build cohesion through the Common Ground Resilience Fund. As part of this overarching funding package, the Common Ground Award aims to recognise good practice in promoting social cohesion by investing capital funding into VCSE sector organisations that are bringing people together from different backgrounds, by supporting the cost of constructing or renovating facilities, or the purchasing of equipment to deliver services.
Additionally, the South East region, including Slough has been allocated £12 million from the Pride in Place Impact Fund (PiPIF). Slough has been allocated £1.5 million from the PiPIF. The PiPIF will enable local authorities, in partnership with local communities, local MPs and other local stakeholders to support a range of projects such as upgrades to community facilities and public spaces such as parks, playgrounds and piers to improve health and well-being, bring people together and strengthen communities.
Furthermore, MHCLG is co-ordinating cross-Government efforts to develop a longer-term, more strategic approach to social cohesion - working in partnership with stakeholders to rebuild, renew and address deep-seated issues.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to protect consumers against fraudulent investment opportunities presented online through the use of deepfakes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Under the Online Safety Act, online platforms are required to take proactive measures to stop fraudulent content appearing on their platforms. This includes fraudulent investments using deepfakes.
The government’s ‘Stop! Think Fraud’ campaign provides practical information on how to spot fake online adverts, including deepfake celebrity investment endorsements, and advice on how to report these scams if individuals fall victim.
The Government will shortly publish a new Fraud Strategy, as set out in our manifesto, which will set out how we will work with law enforcement, industry and others to go further in protecting the public from all fraud, including AI enabled fraud.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Law Commission report entitled Firearms Law: Reforms to Address Pressing Problems, published on 16 December 2015, whether she plans to implement the recommendation on codifying the law on firearms.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has no plans at present to codify existing firearms legislation but we keep the law in this area under review to ensure we maintain strong controls on firearms.
The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February this year, included a commitment to having a consultation specifically on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns in the interests of public safety which we intend to publish shortly.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the average cost to the public purse of processing an application to renew a shotgun licence.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. This gave effect to a commitment in the Government’s manifesto.
A full impact assessment was published alongside the Firearms (Variation of Fees) Order 2025, the Statutory Instrument that brought the new fees into effect.
The impact assessment provides details of the costs associated with both initial grant and renewal of firearms licensing certificates. Any future changes to firearms licensing will be subject to further impact assessments in the normal way. The link to the impact assessment is available here Changes to firearms licensing fees - GOV.UK.