Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will ask the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to respond to the coroner's Prevention of Future Death report following the death of Kenton Beasley.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Unfortunately, although the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency had prepared a reply to the coroner, an oversight meant it was not sent as intended. I can confirm that the DVLA has now responded to the coroner on 24 October.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps he has taken to support community cohesion in (a) the South East and (b) Slough.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG's Community Cohesion Unit works to support and promote cohesion across England, through working closely with local authorities, voluntary and community sector and faith organisations, and other government departments.
The government's new £2.87 million Common Ground Resilience Fund is supporting community connection and cohesion by funding locally led interventions to build community resilience. MHCLG will work with Slough Borough Council and other local authorities to deliver activities that build cohesion through the Common Ground Resilience Fund. As part of this overarching funding package, the Common Ground Award aims to recognise good practice in promoting social cohesion by investing capital funding into VCSE sector organisations that are bringing people together from different backgrounds, by supporting the cost of constructing or renovating facilities, or the purchasing of equipment to deliver services.
Additionally, the South East region, including Slough has been allocated £12 million from the Pride in Place Impact Fund (PiPIF). Slough has been allocated £1.5 million from the PiPIF. The PiPIF will enable local authorities, in partnership with local communities, local MPs and other local stakeholders to support a range of projects such as upgrades to community facilities and public spaces such as parks, playgrounds and piers to improve health and well-being, bring people together and strengthen communities.
Furthermore, MHCLG is co-ordinating cross-Government efforts to develop a longer-term, more strategic approach to social cohesion - working in partnership with stakeholders to rebuild, renew and address deep-seated issues.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to protect consumers against fraudulent investment opportunities presented online through the use of deepfakes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Under the Online Safety Act, online platforms are required to take proactive measures to stop fraudulent content appearing on their platforms. This includes fraudulent investments using deepfakes.
The government’s ‘Stop! Think Fraud’ campaign provides practical information on how to spot fake online adverts, including deepfake celebrity investment endorsements, and advice on how to report these scams if individuals fall victim.
The Government will shortly publish a new Fraud Strategy, as set out in our manifesto, which will set out how we will work with law enforcement, industry and others to go further in protecting the public from all fraud, including AI enabled fraud.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Law Commission report entitled Firearms Law: Reforms to Address Pressing Problems, published on 16 December 2015, whether she plans to implement the recommendation on codifying the law on firearms.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has no plans at present to codify existing firearms legislation but we keep the law in this area under review to ensure we maintain strong controls on firearms.
The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February this year, included a commitment to having a consultation specifically on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns in the interests of public safety which we intend to publish shortly.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the average cost to the public purse of processing an application to renew a shotgun licence.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. This gave effect to a commitment in the Government’s manifesto.
A full impact assessment was published alongside the Firearms (Variation of Fees) Order 2025, the Statutory Instrument that brought the new fees into effect.
The impact assessment provides details of the costs associated with both initial grant and renewal of firearms licensing certificates. Any future changes to firearms licensing will be subject to further impact assessments in the normal way. The link to the impact assessment is available here Changes to firearms licensing fees - GOV.UK.
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, how many officials were investigated under his Department's disciplinary processes in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On 1st July 2023 due to a Machinery of Government Change, the Department of International Trade (DIT) became the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), alongside parts of the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). We therefore only hold information from DBT from 1st July 2023, and information from DIT before this date, and all information shared will be within these parameters.
Year | No. of officials investigated |
2025 | 19 |
2024 | 9 |
2023 | 11 |
2022 | 11 |
2021 | <5 |
Here are the figures for UK Export Finance:
Year | No. of officials investigated |
2025 | <5 |
2024 | <5 |
2023 | <5 |
2022 | <5 |
2021 | <5 |
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 steps he is taking to reduce group B strep infections in newborn babies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom uses the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ risk-based approach whereby those women identified as being at increased risk of having a baby affected by Group B streptococcus (GBS) are managed according to agreed clinical guidelines on the prevention of early on-set neonatal GBS infection.
To improve understanding, prevention, and treatment of GBS infection, the Department is supporting a trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. It aims to determine whether routine testing for GBS for all women, either in late pregnancy or on admission for labour with point of care testing, reduces early-onset neonatal sepsis compared to the current approach of risk-based screening.
The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) will review its recommendation considering the evidence from the trial, after the report is presented.
The UK NSC previously reviewed the evidence to screen for GBS at 35 to 37 weeks of pregnancy in 2017 and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the benefits of screening would outweigh the harms. This was because the test currently available cannot accurately distinguish between those mothers whose babies are at risk and those who are not. This means that many women would unnecessarily be offered antibiotics during labour, with the balance of harms and benefits from this approach being unknown.
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 steps her Department has taken to help support businesses to (a) identify and (b) rectify cybersecurity issues.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government has written to Chairs and CEOs of the largest UK companies and asked them to better identify and protect themselves from cyber threats by making cyber a board-level priority by using the Cyber Governance Code, signing up to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Early Warning service, and requiring Cyber Essentials in supply chains. These actions are relevant to all businesses, who can also help protect themselves by using the wide range of free advice, training and tools available on the NCSC website, including the check your cyber security tool and the Cyber Action Toolkit for small businesses.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many officials were investigated under their Department's disciplinary processes in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Desnz does not hold a centralised record of the number of officials who were investigated under the Department’s disciplinary processes.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to decouple gas and electricity prices.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is determined to increase the share of renewables on the system so that the electricity price is set by cheaper clean power sources rather than gas. Every wind turbine we switch on and solar panel we deploy helps push gas off as the price setter.
Government support, such as the Contracts for Difference scheme has been highly successful in driving investment in renewable electricity and our Clean Power 2030 Mission is focused on accelerating this transition to a renewable power system. This will help reduce reliance on gas and protect consumers from volatile fossil fuel prices.