Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many officials were investigated under their Department's disciplinary processes in each of the last five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of employees who were subject to an investigation as part of the department’s disciplinary process is shown in table below.
Year (calendar) | Number of cases |
2025* | 18 |
2024 | 37 |
2023 | 34 |
2022 | 34 |
2021 | 30 |
*1 January - 30 September 2025
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 progress he has made on implementing recommendation 38 of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review, published in May 2023.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Recommendation 36 relates to the expansion of the Veterans’ Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) accreditation scheme to include care homes and hospices. In July 2024, a pilot was launched by the Royal Star and Garter, supported by the VCHA. An evaluation of the pilot, led by the Royal British Legion, commenced in summer 2025. The evaluation findings will assess the practical viability of the scheme and will be accompanied by a full analysis of the options and associated financial costs.
Recommendation 38 relates to treatment for addiction. Veterans can access all substance misuse services available to non-veterans. In addition, the National Health Service has commissioned Op COURAGE, the veterans’ mental health and wellbeing service which provides support to veterans with substance misuse and mental health issues. NHS England are developing plans to provide training and education about the needs of the Armed Forces community to NHS staff through the National Armed Forces training and education programme. This will include NHS services that provide support to veterans with addiction issues.
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, whether he has held discussions with the Home Secretary (a) attracting and (b) retaining talented (i) researchers and (ii) innovators through the UK visa system.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As set out in the Immigration White Paper, the Government is committed to delivering a competitive immigration system that attracts and retains talented international researchers and innovators. This includes reforms to our top talent visa routes, such as the Global Talent and High Potential Individual visas.
The recently launched Global Talent Taskforce is also working across Government and with my Department to support efforts to bring world-class talent to key Industrial Strategy sectors in the UK. My Department and DSIT Ministers work closely with the Home Office and across Government to ensure we continue to attract and retain top talent.
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 progress he has made on implementing recommendation 36 of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review, published in May 2023.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Recommendation 36 relates to the expansion of the Veterans’ Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) accreditation scheme to include care homes and hospices. In July 2024, a pilot was launched by the Royal Star and Garter, supported by the VCHA. An evaluation of the pilot, led by the Royal British Legion, commenced in summer 2025. The evaluation findings will assess the practical viability of the scheme and will be accompanied by a full analysis of the options and associated financial costs.
Recommendation 38 relates to treatment for addiction. Veterans can access all substance misuse services available to non-veterans. In addition, the National Health Service has commissioned Op COURAGE, the veterans’ mental health and wellbeing service which provides support to veterans with substance misuse and mental health issues. NHS England are developing plans to provide training and education about the needs of the Armed Forces community to NHS staff through the National Armed Forces training and education programme. This will include NHS services that provide support to veterans with addiction issues.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support schools to provide practical science activities as part of their curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government recognises the vital role of practical science activities in schools in fostering scientific understanding and engagement.
The national curriculum already provides opportunities for schools to deliver practical science lessons, including a requirement for pupils to undertake a minimum of eight practical activities for each science at GCSE level. Schools also have flexibility within the broad framework of the national curriculum to tailor their science curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils.
Support is available through Oak National Academy, an independent arm’s length body providing adaptable, optional, and free curriculum support for schools. Oak has new science resources covering key stages 1-4 that include practical science activities.
The government has commissioned Professor Becky Francis to undertake a review of the curriculum and assessment system in England, which will include looking at the science curriculum. The final report is due to be published this autumn, along with the government’s response.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps he has taken with local councils to tackle the illegal use of fireworks in (a) Slough constituency and (b) Berkshire.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Enforcement powers exist for local authorities to take action when fireworks are unsafe, sold illegally or misused. Local authorities and the police also have powers to tackle anti-social behaviour caused by the misuse of fireworks. It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of training provided to school staff on assisting children who have epilepsy.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions, as well as the duties under the Equality Act 2010. The effectiveness of a school is assessed through inspection by Ofsted.
The department has committed to reviewing the ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ guidance and intends to issue a consultation on an updated version. The current guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to allow legitimate cyber activity (a) necessary for the (i) detection and (ii) prevention of crime and (b) justified as being in the public interest.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government is conducting an ongoing review of the Computer Misuse Act. As part of the review, we are scoping several proposals to update the act, including how we can better support legitimate cybersecurity researchers so they can operate within a clear and supportive legal framework, while maintaining robust safeguards against misuse.
Engagement, including with the cyber security industry, is underway to refine the approach and an update will be provided in due course.
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 systems for delivering oxygen to battlefield trauma casualties without making use of pressurised cylinders; and what estimate he has made of when this will be available for frontline use.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) deploys oxygen concentrators under certain circumstances to deliver oxygen without pressurised cylinders.
The Defence Investment Plan will set out any further funding available to support the wider roll out of oxygen concentrators to deliver oxygen to battlefield trauma casualties.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to improve public preparedness for emergencies.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Advice for the general public on how to prepare for emergencies is published at GOV.UK/Prepare, which provides simple and effective steps that individuals, households and communities can take to be more prepared for a range of emergencies.
The Prepare website was included in the message sent to tens of millions of mobile devices across the country in September as part of the successful test of the Emergency Alerts systems.
The Government is currently considering what further public communications activities might support improvements to public preparedness for emergencies. We published the first annual UK Public Survey of Risk Perception, Resilience and Preparedness in July 2025. The results are being used to inform the development of future public preparedness communications and to monitor trends.