Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of court phone numbers that, when called, tell you to call a different number.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is committed to improving the experience of users contacting us by telephone. We have migrated call handling for a number of services from local courts and tribunals to centrally managed National Service Centres. Since migration telephony wait times continue to improve, for example, average call waiting times in our digital service centres have fallen year on year, from 17 minutes in December 2023, to 15 minutes in December 2024, and to 13 minutes in December 2025, against our 15-minutes target.
A proportion of callers continue to use older phone numbers that appear on historic paperwork or in third‑party online sources retained by citizens and professionals. To avoid leaving these callers without guidance, HMCTS maintains recorded messages on such lines to signpost to the correct, active number or service.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) customer service, (b) accessibility and (c) the ability of users to speak to a human operator in its court telephone system.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is taking steps to improve the service it provides Court and Tribunal users, for example, through the delivery of the Service Improvement Framework which focuses on written communications, telephone call handling, complaint handling and public facing information. This will be in place from April 2026.
HMCTS has developed an Accessibility Strategy following a Government Internal Audit Agency recommendation in September 2024 and is building an action plan to support delivery of the strategy.
HMCTS’ new digital services are designed and built to be simple, accessible, and easy to use. HMCTS has a digital support service to help those who are digitally excluded (based on access, skills or confidence) to complete digital forms. HMCTS digital services are required to comply with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018, under the Equality Act 2018. Our digital services are tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 AA Standard to make sure they comply with the regulations.
To improve call handling within HMCTS, some services, including Crime Magistrates, Civil and Family, have migrated call handling from local Courts into National Service centres. This change was made in recognition that a more efficient and consistent service can be delivered through modern technology and centrally managed, dedicated contact centre teams.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been employed to answer phone enquiries for the High Court in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) HR does not hold information relating to people employed to answer phone enquiries for the High Court. This is because answering telephone enquiries is a responsibility spanning multiple different role profiles.
No HMCTS role has the sole responsibility of answering telephone enquiries in its entirety, and so the word “telephone” or “phone” does not feature in any job titles.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information she holds on the value of US bonds held by the Bank of England.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK’s foreign currency assets are held by:
a) HM Treasury in the Exchange Equalisation Account (EEA). HM Treasury appoints the Bank of England as its agent to manage the EEA on a day-to-day basis.
b) The Bank of England.
Data on the UK’s holdings of foreign currency assets, split by currency, is published quarterly (with a one month lag) by the Bank of England. The latest is available here: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/uk-international-reserves/2025/december-2025
As of 30th September 2025, the EEA holds $60,083 million of US dollar-denominated assets. The Bank of England holds $15,183 million of US dollar-denominated assets.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which police forces in England do not require their officers to declare membership of any potentially influential organisation that is hierarchical, has confidential membership and requires members to support and protect each other; and what assessment she has made of the compatibility of membership of such organisations with adherence to the College of Policing's ethical policing principles.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
All police officers are under a statutory obligation to abstain from any activity which is likely to interfere with the impartial discharge of their duties. Failure to do so could lead to disciplinary action being taken.
The Home Office does not hold information on individual force policies regarding membership of organisations.
However, the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on counter corruption sets out that, as part of force notifiable association policies, officers should declare association with any individual, group, organisation or society which may cause a conflict of interest.
The ethical policing principles set out by the College of Policing are designed to support decision-making that is fair, unbiased, and open and honest about the reasons for decisions. The wider Code of Ethics, supported by a statutory Code of Practice for Ethical Policing, provides guidance on ethical and professional behaviour, including how officers and staff should manage business interests or personal associations to ensure there is no conflict with their policing duties.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to improve the defence capability to shoot down ballistic missiles targeted at the UK.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Ballistic Missiles are one of several threat categories that are managed through our Integrated Air and Missile Defence enterprise.
Integrated Air and Missile Defence investments will be prioritised appropriately against the threat as part of the future Integrated Force. Work to deliver the Strategic Defence Review recommendations, including on homeland Integrated Air and Missile Defence, will be prioritised appropriately against the assessed threat picture as part of the future Integrated Force and will be set out in the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to improve the armed forces’ ability to conduct ground launched conventional deep precision strikes.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Activities under the Trinity House partnership between the UK and Germany are progressing technical work to mature and inform choices for very long-range Deep Precision Strike capabilities that would expand the UK's options for retaliation to attack, or threat of attack, on the UK or its Allies.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will (a) have discussions with cabinet colleagues on the merits of reducing student loan debt as part of a recruitment package for attracting and retaining recent graduates into the armed forces and (b) estimate the cost to the public purse of such a policy.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Armed Forces already provide several opportunities to support tertiary education both before service and while serving. These include bursaries, sponsored degree study, in-service degrees and Learning Credits to offset the cost of undergraduate and postgraduate study. These schemes ensure that personnel are supported in gaining valuable qualifications and skills benefiting not only the individual, but also enhancing operational capability.
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, if she will ensure that her Department has contingency plans in place to respond to any invasion or hostile act against Greenland by a foreign power.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It has been the long-standing policy of the United Kingdom under successive governments never to speculate on hypothetical operational responses to hypothetical scenarios.
I refer the Hon Member to the statement made to the House by the Foreign Secretary on 5 January, and her responses to questions raised in that debate, where she set out in comprehensive terms the UK's position on Greenland.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps to strengthen the UK’s preparedness, in coordination with NATO allies, for threats to the security of British Overseas Territories.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence remains firmly committed to ensuring the security and resilience of the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories. In line with our obligations and strategic priorities, we continue to take steps to strengthen preparedness against emerging threats, working closely with NATO allies and other international partners.