Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken with international partners to dispose of legacy marine mines.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Secretary of State for Defence has no direct responsibility for munitions in the marine environment, except for those associated with Ministry of Defence (MOD) wrecks. Environmental stewardship is important to the MOD and we continue to work closely with our international partners and allies to ensure the safety of personnel and the marine environment.
Most legacy naval mines remain in situ in the marine environment, due to non-recovery following deployment during World Wars I and II. In the UK the current position for naval mines is that they are to be left undisturbed unless they become a hazard to public safety and shipping. If they remain undisturbed, they do not pose significant harm to human health or the marine environment. Where mines are identified as a hazard around the UK the MOD provides support to civil authorities to assist with disposal, should they request it.
We work actively within NATO’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Working Group and other allied partnerships on opportunities to improve understanding, methods, and techniques for the management and disposal of naval mines. In April 2024 the MOD supported maritime historic disposal operations through Operation Open Spirit in the Baltic Sea. The purpose of this annual operation is to reduce the risk of mines to civilians through the detection and disposal of World War I and II historic ordnance, much of which is naval mines.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to ensure legally compliant labelling on imported food and drink.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK maintains high standards on the information that is provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. The fundamental principle of food labelling rules is that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable the safe use of food. The rules also specify what particular information must be provided and how it must be presented.
All food sold on the UK market, including that which is imported, must comply with food labelling rules.
Food labelling rules are enforced by local authorities. Concerns that a specific food does not comply or is otherwise misleading, should be raised with a local trading standards officer who will be able to investigate and take necessary action.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for implementing alternative student finance following the introduction of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement in the 2025-26 academic year.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to introducing an alternative student finance (ASF) product, compatible with Islamic finance principles, as quickly as we can. To support this, the department has reconvened an expert working group made up of representatives from the Islamic community and the finance sector. The department has also appointed a secretariat to take forward the certification of the product as compatible with Islamic finance principles.
The delivery of the ASF product will need to follow the introduction of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), which will replace the existing student finance system when introduced. The first LLE-funded courses and modules will begin in January 2027 and the department intends to introduce ASF as soon as possible after this.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to increase awareness of financial support available to students.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Information on the student support package for the 2024/25 academic year, is available on GOV.UK at: https://studentfinance.campaign.gov.uk/currently-a-student/.
The higher education (HE) sector needs a secure financial footing to face the challenges of the next decade, and to ensure that all students have confidence that they will receive the world-class HE experience they deserve.
In line with this approach, on 4 November 2024, this government announced that from 1 August 2025 it will be increasing both the maximum cap for tuition fees, and maintenance loans for students, in line with inflation.
There is much more to do to expand access and improve outcomes for disadvantaged students. That is why we have announced that we expect the HE sector to do more to support students by working with the government and the Office for Students, and by making the most of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement. We will be setting out longer-term plans for the sector next year.
Further information for prospective students is provided on the Student Finance England website, available here: https://studentfinance.campaign.gov.uk/student-toolkit/.
The government will announce further details of the student finance package for the 2025/26 academic year soon.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the allowances permitted for those undertaking jury duty for (a) loss of earnings, (b) cost of any care or childcare, (c) food and drink and (d) travel and parking costs.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Jury service is an important civic duty, and we want to help jurors feel supported as they undertake this important job. The support provided to jurors includes measures to assist those who may suffer financial hardship. People who are not paid by their employer whilst they are on jury service can claim a loss of earnings allowance from the court, and jurors can apply for a deferral or excusal based upon financial hardship. The Government will keep under review all support provided to jurors throughout their service.
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 (a) international counterparts and (b) the Secretary of State for Defence to remove explosive ordnance from areas that have previously been conflict zones.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO-funded Global Mine Action Programme (GMAP) is the Government's main programme for removing mines, cluster munitions and other explosive ordinance from previous conflict zones. GMAP currently funds clearance in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Laos, Somalia, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe. The Integrated Security Fund also funds clearance in Sri Lanka and Tajikistan. In October 2024, the UK participated in a Ukraine mine action conference, that re-affirmed donor commitment to supporting Ukraine's national mine action strategy. In November 2024, the UK participated in the 5th Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Clearing legacy contamination is outside the remit of Ministry of Defence.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of imported disposable vapes manufactured in China in (a) 2024 and (b) 2023.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.
Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by commodity codes. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff.
Disposable vapes are most likely classified as commodity code 2404 12 00 90. HMRC does not collect the number of units imported for vapes.
The data we do have on the import of these items, can be obtained from the build your own interactive tables on www.uktradeinfo.com. These tables include country of dispatch (CoD) which gives information on the country of export. If specifically wanting information on country of manufacture/ country of origin (CoO) this is available in the bulk datasets archive. The data available includes value and weight (kg) of imports.
Published data for 2024 covers January – October only
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk.
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 she has taken with Cabinet colleagues to help alleviate child poverty in (a) Slough and (b) the Thames Valley region.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In the Labour manifesto we committed to developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child Poverty. I am part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce which has since been established to drive this forward, aiming to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. On 23 October we published our framework ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’ and are exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. Local authorities are key partners in tackling child poverty and we will continue to engage with them to ensure the Strategy supports and enables shared solutions.
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 assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding provided by the Government to local councils.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are providing a significant boost to local authorities in England. Taken together, the additional funding announced by the Chancellor at the Autumn Budget and at the 2025-26 provisional Local Government Finance Settlement will provide over £5 billion of new funding for local services over and above local council tax. This includes an additional £2 billion of grant through the Settlement in addition to a guarantee that local authorities in England will receive at least £1.1 billion in total in 2025-26 from the new Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) scheme, and a further £233 million of additional funding for homelessness services.
The provisional Settlement for 2025-26 makes available £69 billion for local government, which is a 3.5% real terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25. The final Settlement will increase further, to incorporate the £515 million of funding announced for National Insurance Contributions.
The Department works closely with local government and other government departments to understand specific demand and cost pressures facing local government on an ongoing basis. This involves looking at a range of cost and demand data, as well as regular engagement with local authorities.
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, how many times people have been called more than twice per day by NHS Blood and Transplant seeking blood donations in the last 12 months; and whether he is taking steps to ensure that the frequency of calls from NHS Blood and Transplant is not excessive.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) attempted 8,532,133 outbound calls to all donors across whole blood, platelets, and plasma for medicine. Of this total figure, 37.5%, or 3,199,031, call attempts resulted in a donor receiving up to three call attempts in a single day. Multiple attempts in a single day are generally to offer last minute appointments to eligible donors, or to ensure a session has a suitable blood mix ahead of sessions taking place.
NHSBT recently launched a new automated system to better target donors and reduce the number of calls needed to fill appointments and collect the appropriate mix of blood needed while meeting donor preferences for contact.
The NHSBT National Contact Centre will call a phone number up to three times a day, or three times within a five-day period, before resting the record, with no further call attempts, for a minimum of 21 days. Occasionally, NHSBT will make additional calls to priority donors, breaking the 21 day ‘rest’ period. This is often where particular blood group stocks are low, or demand exceeds supply.