Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing an offence of harming, threatening or intimidating a person, whether or not in the performance of their duties, in order to punish, deter or retaliate against the exercise of a public function, including where that person is not an emergency worker.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is clear that individuals should be able to carry out public functions without being subjected to violence, threats or intimidation. A range of existing criminal offences may apply to such behaviour, including assault, harassment, stalking and public order offences.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to a) detect individuals who persistently evade fares on public transport, b) prevent those individuals from future fare evasion, and c) recover money owed to public transport networks lost as a result of fare evasion.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is working with the rail industry to reduce and deter fare evasion, including through the development of a new cross-industry framework and improved data sharing. These measures will help identify repeat offenders, deter future fare evasion, and support operators in recovering unpaid fares and taking proportionate enforcement action where appropriate.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer on 09 September 2026 to Question 26088 on Warships: Republic of Ireland, whether a Royal Navy vessel provided air defence support during the recent meeting of EU defence ministers in County Wicklow.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK and Ireland work closely together under the refreshed UK-Ireland Defence Memorandum of Understanding which prioritises cooperation in both the air and maritime domains. The UK does not comment on operational taskings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment they have made of the adequacy of government funding for Private Finance Initiative schools in the constituency of Slough.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department supports Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts through the funding arrangements agreed when contracts were signed. This includes revenue support grant funding (RSG) paid to local authorities over the contract term. RSG funding forms part of the overall affordability package for these projects, alongside contributions from local authorities and schools.
Further support is provided through the schools national funding formula PFI factor, and Slough will receive £1.1 million in the 2026/27 financial year through the PFI factor.
The department works with local authorities to assess affordability, determine appropriate levels of support and review PFI factor funding.