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, whether he is taking steps to ensure that all remaining integrated care boards set up a Women’s Health Hub.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women’s health hubs have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and reducing gynaecology waiting lists.
As of March 2025, 41 out of 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) reported to NHS England that they had a women’s health hub. The Dorset ICB reported to NHS England that they do not have a women’s health hub.
The Government is committed to encouraging ICBs to further expand coverage of women’s health hubs and to use the learning from existing women’s health hubs to improve local delivery of services to women. ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health care needs of their local population, including women’s health hubs. NHS England has asked ICBs to set out their plans for their women’s health hubs in 2025/26.
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, which integrated care boards have not set up a Women’s Health Hub.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women’s health hubs have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and reducing gynaecology waiting lists.
As of March 2025, 41 out of 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) reported to NHS England that they had a women’s health hub. The Dorset ICB reported to NHS England that they do not have a women’s health hub.
The Government is committed to encouraging ICBs to further expand coverage of women’s health hubs and to use the learning from existing women’s health hubs to improve local delivery of services to women. ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health care needs of their local population, including women’s health hubs. NHS England has asked ICBs to set out their plans for their women’s health hubs in 2025/26.
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, whether he is taking steps to increase the uptake of bowel screenings.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Coverage of bowel cancer screening has been increasing in recent years, with a marked increase from 2019 of 11.3 percentage points since the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) test was rolled out as the primary test in the screening programme with coverage amongst people aged between 60 and 74 years old currently standing at 71.8%.
The bowel cancer screening standards have recently been reviewed, with changes taking effect from 1 April 2025. This will update the achievable and acceptable thresholds for both uptake and coverage. The new coverage thresholds for people aged between 60 and 74 years old will be acceptable level of more than or equal to 62.0%, and achievable level of more than or equal to 76.0%.
To further increase coverage, NHS England: is delivering new approaches to communicating with people about screening through the NHS App; is supporting frontline screening staff and enabling the delivery of new technology, including artificial intelligence; is improving the way eligible people are identified and invited for screening through the transformation of screening programme digital services; is incorporating the reasonable adjustment flag into screening to ensure people get information in the way they want; has recently updated the bowel cancer screening leaflets to improve accessibility; and has made the bowel cancer screening FIT kit more accessible for people who are blind or partially sighted.
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 recent steps he has taken to increase awareness of bowel cancer symptoms in (a) Slough and (b) the South East.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns run across England and is accessible publicly, including for those living in Slough and the South East. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging ‘body awareness’ to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point. Previous phases of the campaign have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of bowel cancer. It is the responsibility of local National Health Service organisations to consider whether they wish to run additional campaigns tailored to the needs of their local population and aligned to their service provisions.
NHS England and other NHS organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including bowel cancer. This information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-cancer/symptoms/
The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care. The government’s goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years, including bowel cancer.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential economic impact of generative artificial intelligence on the creative sectors.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS Ministers have met on numerous occasions with stakeholders from across the creative industries, including the music, film and book publishing industries, to discuss the impact of generative AI and the government’s consultation on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence.
AI is increasingly being used as a tool in the creative process, from music and film production to publishing, architecture and design. As of September 2024 more than 38% of Creative Industries businesses said they have used AI technologies, with nearly 50% using AI to improve business operations. It may foster innovation and efficiency but may also disrupt the sector. We are working with the creative sector and committed to ensuring our brilliant artists benefit in working with the AI sector to harness the opportunities this technology provides. In addition, we are aware that several publishing houses have licensed their content with AI companies.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the (a) music, (b) film and (c) book publishing industry on the impact of generative AI.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS Ministers have met on numerous occasions with stakeholders from across the creative industries, including the music, film and book publishing industries, to discuss the impact of generative AI and the government’s consultation on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence.
AI is increasingly being used as a tool in the creative process, from music and film production to publishing, architecture and design. As of September 2024 more than 38% of Creative Industries businesses said they have used AI technologies, with nearly 50% using AI to improve business operations. It may foster innovation and efficiency but may also disrupt the sector. We are working with the creative sector and committed to ensuring our brilliant artists benefit in working with the AI sector to harness the opportunities this technology provides. In addition, we are aware that several publishing houses have licensed their content with AI companies.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with AI developers on material used to train generative AI models.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to hearing a broad range of views to ensure it meets all 50 recommendations outlined in the Action Plan. We have recently consulted with a variety of stakeholders, which included AI developers, to inform our approach to copyright and AI.
Ministerial meetings are published according to normal transparency requirements on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the use of AI in her Department on security.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The UK government is dedicated to leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance public services safely and securely. The AI Playbook for the UK Government security section (p. 74) includes an assessment of the risks coming from the use of AI. The Playbook includes worked scenarios for AI use which detail potential impacts for the different types of risk. All AI services must adhere to Secure by Design principles and conduct risk assessments, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs).
The department has established an AI working group to identify, assess and manage opportunities and risks associated with AI technologies in the department. Before any new technology or product is implemented in the department it undergoes security assurance and data protection considerations.
Critical and important systems and services are risk assessed by the department’s Information Security team to identify and communicate risks to service risk owners, and to provide recommendations to mitigate those risks that are above the service and department’s risk appetite.
Security concerns on cross government use of AI tools such as Humphrey are managed centrally via the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Government Security Group.
The following resources, produced by His Majesty’s Government, are available to the department:
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an estimate of the number of additional lorry drivers required when volumetric concrete mixers operate at the standard weight limit for HGVs.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The call for evidence on Volumetric Concrete Mixers (VCMs) conducted by the Department for Transport from October to December 2023 was an opportunity for respondents to present evidence, but it did not reveal significant new evidence supporting a change in policy.
The outcome of this review was published on 18 March. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/volumetric-concrete-mixers-review
Current exemptions to weight limits for VCMs will expire in 2028. This policy is being maintained.
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, what recent steps he has taken with international partners to ensure humanitarian aid is received by people in need in Myanmar.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are working closely with a range of international partners to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches all those affected by the earthquake in Myanmar. The UK has announced up to £25 million in life-saving support for people affected by the earthquake in Myanmar. This includes up to £5 million to match the British public's generous donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal.
The UK supports the people of Myanmar by funding local actors on the ground who can directly access affected populations. Immediately after the earthquake our partners assessed needs and mobilised an initial humanitarian response. UK-funded food, water, healthcare and shelter supplies are already reaching affected areas, helping over 86,000 people so far.