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 to prevent the sale of electrical products online that do not meet British safety standards.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, businesses are responsible for ensuring that electrical products are safe before being placed on the UK market. The Office for Product Safety and Standards and local authorities take action, including enforcement, to prevent the supply of non-compliant products and remove them from sale, including online.
My Department has recently consulted on reforming the Product Safety Framework so that it works for modern products, risks and supply chains. This included proposals for clear duties on online marketplaces to identify, prevent and remove unsafe products from their sites.
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 assessment he has`made of the adequacy of guidance available to NHS staff on the use of restrictive practice within inpatient mental health services.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018 requires every mental health unit to publish a policy on how it is minimizing the use of force, including restrictive practices. This includes preventative action the unit is taking to minimise use of force, staff training on how and when use of force is appropriate, and how use of force is recorded and reported.
There is ongoing work to reduce restrictive interventions within mental health inpatient units using quality improvement approaches including through the Culture of Care Standards Programme. Resources such as the NHS England’s Identifying restrictive practice guidance and the Use of Force Act statutory guidance have been produced to reduce the use of force and ensure accountability and transparency about the use of force in mental health units.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress he has made on the installation of Automatic Fire Detection across prison accommodation.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Under this Government, H M Prison & Probation Service has adopted a strategic approach to fire safety improvement across the prison estate, prioritising the installation of in-cell automatic fire detection (AFD) to minimise the risk of harm from fires as quickly as possible. This approach, which has resulted in approximately 4000 prison places being made fire safety compliant since July 2024, reflects the assessment that AFD provides the most significant immediate reduction in life safety risk by enabling the earliest possible identification of fire.
The current number of prison places with in-cell AFD is 70,975 out of a total of 89,795 operational places across the prison estate (79 per cent).
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prison accommodation has Automatic Fire Detection installed in England.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Under this Government, H M Prison & Probation Service has adopted a strategic approach to fire safety improvement across the prison estate, prioritising the installation of in-cell automatic fire detection (AFD) to minimise the risk of harm from fires as quickly as possible. This approach, which has resulted in approximately 4000 prison places being made fire safety compliant since July 2024, reflects the assessment that AFD provides the most significant immediate reduction in life safety risk by enabling the earliest possible identification of fire.
The current number of prison places with in-cell AFD is 70,975 out of a total of 89,795 operational places across the prison estate (79 per cent).
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of support available to (a) serving military personnel and (b) veterans with Acquired Brain Injury as a result of service.
Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
The health and wellbeing of our Armed Forces personnel is one of this Government’s top priorities. Specialist treatment for Service personnel with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), including traumatic brain injuries (TBI) is facilitated by Defence Medical Command (DMedC) at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC). Veterans can access physical health support through Op RESTORE and mental health services through Op COURAGE, with significant recent investment.
Further, with the introduction of Op VALOUR; a new £50 million UK Government-backed initiative, Veterans across the UK will have easier access to essential care, improved coordination and visibility of services.
The UK is a world leader in ABI, and Defence will continue its dedicated work and collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on ABI with a specific focus on TBI and mild Traumatic Brian Injury (mBTI) to ensure the best outcomes for our military community and society as a whole.
The UK is investing heavily in research to advance the diagnosis, management and rehabilitation of patients with ABI, which will help both military and civilian patients. Defence has invested £3.65m in the world’s first mobile quantum-enabled magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain scanner, built in the UK, to tell us what happens in the minutes and hours after blast exposure.
This government will publish the first ABI Action Plan this year. The plan will lay out the action that is needed to improve the lives of people who have experienced ABI.