Written questions by Dhesi.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support local councils to tackle fly-tipping.

Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights local communities and the environment. Local authorities have a range of enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping including fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, vehicle seizure and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or even imprisonment. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to develop new guidance to support them to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.  We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool. We committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course. In the meantime, Defra continue to chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.

What steps her Department is taking to protect the rail network from cyber attacks.

The Department for Transport (DfT) runs a cyber programme aimed at understanding and addressing risks and vulnerabilities across all modes of transport, including rail, and works across government to introduce relevant standards, guidance, and policies to ensure the cyber resilience of essential services.The department uses both policy and regulatory levers to help the sector manage cyber risk and secure its systems, networks and assets. This work includes efforts to promote a more consistent and resilient approach to managing cyber risks across operational practices and the broader rail ecosystem. We work closely with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), industry stakeholders, and other partners to continuously assess and mitigate emerging cyber threats.

What steps her Department has taken to prevent signal cabling theft on the rail network.

Tackling trespass and vandalism, including cable theft, is a top priority for the rail industry, alongside the British Transport Police (BTP) who are responsible for policing the railway in England, Scotland and Wales. BTP adopts an intelligence-led approach to combat cable theft across the rail network, working closely with partners such as Network Rail and the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership to identify high-risk areas and target their resources effectively. The Department for Transport is using strengthened relationships with Shadow Great British Railways partners such as Network Rail, the DfT Operator and Train Operating Companies to identify immediate and longer-term measures to reduce the impact on railway performance. This work includes improved physical deterrence, the use of new technology and better data collection and analysis.

Communities and Local Government, what recent progress her Department has made on working with developers to ensure unsafe buildings are remediated quickly.

54 developers have signed the developer remediation contract. MHCLG publishes quarterly updates on progress that developers are making. As of 31 March 2025, those developers had identified 1,700 buildings with life-critical fire safety defects that they are obligated to directly remediate. Developers had started or completed work on 49% of these buildings. Further detail is in the monthly Building Safety Data Release here.On 2 December 2024, we published a joint plan to accelerate developer-led remediation and improve resident experience. 39 developers (accounting for over 95% of buildings to be remediated by developers) have signed up to the joint plan. In doing so, those developers have committed to ambitious stretch targets to finish assessing all their buildings by July 2025, and to start or complete remedial works on 80% of relevant buildings by July 2026 and on all relevant buildings by July 2027.Government is holding developers to account. This includes working with developers to overcome barriers to remediation and improve resident experience through a monthly Remediation Action Group.

What steps she is taking to support young people in Slough into (a) employment, (b) education and (c) training.

As announced in the “Get Britain Working” White Paper, we are launching a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. The Youth Guarantee will build upon and enhance existing entitlements and provisions with the aim of tackling the rising number of young people who are not participating in education, employment or training. DWP provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners. At Slough Jobcentre, young people receive tailored support from dedicated youth work coaches. Those facing multiple barriers to employment are assisted by a Youth Employability Coach. Individuals unemployed for over six months attend bi-weekly job clubs to enhance their job search and application skills. Opportunities for work experience are available through the Movement to Work programme. Slough Jobcentre also hosted youth-focused job fairs, job-matching events, and mentoring programmes designed to motivate and engage young people.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that councils are financially stable.

We have delivered a Settlement that begins to fix the foundations of local government by providing significant investment, redirecting funding towards the services and places that need it most. The Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25. The government is committed to pursuing a comprehensive set of reforms for public services to return the local government sector to a sustainable position. This will be done in partnership with local government and on the principle of giving forward notice and certainty to allow time for councils to plan. From 2026-27, we want to fundamentally improve the way we fund councils and direct funding to where it is most needed through the first multi-year settlement in 10 years.

What steps he is taking to help prevent violence and harassment towards NHS staff.

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. There is a zero-tolerance approach to any incidents of harassment or abuse against NHS staff.Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff, and they put in place measures, including security, training, and emotional support, for staff affected by violence. To support them, NHS England is working on initiatives to prevent and reduce violence and aggression from patients, their families, and the public.On 9 April 2025, the Government announced that the Social Partnership Forum’s recommendations on tackling and reducing violence, part of the 2023 Agenda for Change pay deal, have been accepted. These include the significant commitments of tackling violence and aggression against NHS staff, including improving data and the reporting of incidences, and ensuring strengthened risk assessments, training, and support for victims.

What steps she is taking to help end discrimination against disabled people.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave on 5 February to PQ 27692.

What steps he is taking to reduce fraud in the public sector.

Tackling public sector fraud is a priority for this government. That’s why the government introduced the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill in January as part of the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation. The measures in the Bill will give us more tools to combat fraud, recover public money and allow the government to investigate fraud. The Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) is also developing artificial intelligence tools to tackle fraud - and is expected to surpass the PSFA’s £250m 2024-25 audited benefits target from these services. Furthermore, at the request of the Secretary of State for Education to address fraud in student loans, the PSFA is working to coordinate the government's response to fraud within student loans by providing direct expertise understand the scale of the threat posed by fraudsters, identify the most effective immediate disruption activities and how to prevent this kind of fraud in the future.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to support local supermarkets to ensure the adequate provision of battery bins.

Under the current regulations, retailers selling more than 32kg of portable batteries must have a collection point at all premises from which batteries are supplied. Retailers can search online for a batteries compliance scheme who will collect these batteries free of charge and can advise in respect of collection bins. There is no legal requirement for retailers selling less than 32kg of batteries each year to make collection provisions, but they can still enquire with a battery compliance scheme as to how they may be able to assist. More information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/battery-waste-supplier-reponsibilities.

What steps she is taking to ensure that employers are supporting women managing menopause in the workplace.

On 18th October 2024 the Secretary of State for DWP appointed Mariella Frostrup as the new Menopause Employment Ambassador. The Menopause Employment Ambassador will work closely with employers across the country to improve workplace support for women experiencing menopause and wider women’s health issues. The Menopause Employment Ambassador launched her Menopause Advisory Group on 24th April who will provide her with expert knowledge from a wide range of sectors on how businesses can better support women experiencing menopause in the workplace by creating a more supportive environment that helps women to stay in work and progress. The government has also proposed a wide-ranging set of generational reforms to boost protections for workers, including women experiencing menopause symptoms at work. The policy proposals in the Employment Rights Bill would require large employers with more than 250 employees to produce Menopause Action Plans on how they will support employees through the menopause. Alongside this the government has also committed to publishing guidance, including for small employers, on measures to consider relating to uniform and temperature, flexible working and recording menopause-related leave and absence.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that the transport system supports economic growth.

Kickstarting economic growth across every corner of the UK is the top priority of this Government. We’re getting on with delivering the Government’s Plan for Change by delivering the basics of a better transport system, from improving peoples’ everyday journeys through our local transport investment to going further and faster on planning reform to accelerate delivery of our major projects.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the sustainability of local media.

Sustainability of journalism across the country is an area of particular concern for this Government. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. Our vision is a thriving local media that can continue to play an invaluable role as a key channel of trustworthy information at local level, reporting on the issues that matter to communities, reflecting their contributions and perspectives, and helping to foster a self-confident nation in which everyone feels that their contribution is part of an inclusive national story.We are working across Government and with other stakeholders as the Strategy develops, and we recently held a roundtable discussion with local news editors from across the country to discuss our planned approach and explore further collaboration on the Strategy. We will announce further details in due course.

What steps she is taking to ensure employers are proactive in preventing workplace sexual harassment.

Equality is at the heart of this Government’s missions, which is why our Employment Rights Bill is introducing robust measures to safeguard working people, including protections from sexual harassment.We are supporting the effective implementation of the new duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, which came into force on 26 October 2024. We are also working to strengthen this duty through the Employment Rights Bill to require employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. The Bill additionally introduces an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties, including third-party sexual harassment.We will also introduce a power to enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as “reasonable”, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. The Government will only set out steps in regulations where these are proportionate and there is a clear evidence base supporting their efficacy in preventing workplace sexual harassment. We have recently launched a call for evidence on equality law, which will help build on our existing research into the most effective steps to combat sexual harassment in the workplace.

What steps she is taking to help increase the number of school places for children with SEND in (a) Slough and (b) Berkshire.

The department has now published allocations for £740 million in high needs provision capital allocations for the 2025/26 financial year. The funding can be used to adapt schools to be more accessible for children with special educational needs and disabilities, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs, and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.Slough Borough Council has been allocated £2.6 million for 2025/26 and West Berkshire Council has been allocated just under £1.5 million. It is up to the local authorities to make decisions about the places they create and to prioritise their funding to meet local needs.

Innovation and Technology, what progress he has made on setting up AI growth zones.

His Majesty’s Government has made steady progress in delivering the AI Opportunities Action Plan, published in January.This includes establishing AI Growth Zones (AIGZs) to accelerate large-scale AI infrastructure development across the UK. Culham, home to the UK Atomic Energy Authority, has been named as the first AIGZ.To identify further AIGZs, DSIT opened an early expression of interest period, in which DSIT received over 200 expressions of interest. DSIT has how opened the formal process for applicants to apply to host an AIGZ. This will remain open on a rolling basis.

What steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of cases involving use of offensive weapons in Slough.

This Government’s priority is to keep our streets safe, that is why we have committed to halve knife crime in a decade as part of our Safer Streets Mission.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecuted over 1,000 knife crime offences in 2023-24 in conjunction with Thames Valley Police.Working closely with police in Thames Valley, the CPS recently completed a two-year pilot of Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs). SVROs, which can be applied for by the CPS, provide police with the power to search a person subject to an order for bladed articles or offensive weapons in a public space. An evaluation report about the pilot is due in summer 2025, ahead of a decision by the Government to roll the powers out nationally.

Innovation and Technology, what recent progress his Department has made on improving digital inclusion in the Slough constituency.

The Government published its Digital Inclusion Action Plan in February 2025, which outlines the first five actions we are taking over the next year to boost digital inclusion in every corner of the UK, including Slough.These will be targeted at local initiatives for boosting digital skills and confidence, widening access to devices and connectivity, and getting support to people in their own communities so everyone can reap the benefits of technology.

What steps her Department is taking to protect British consumers against fraud.

We committed in our manifesto to introduce an expanded Fraud Strategy. Development of the Strategy has begun and details of the government’s approach to tackling fraud will be set out in due course.Work continues to ensure that the public are better equipped to spot and avoid frauds, through our Stop! Think Fraud campaign. Furthermore, as of March 2025, the Online Safety Act’s illegal content duties are now enforceable by Ofcom. This will cut off key online vectors by which criminals are able to identify and communicate with potential victims, such as fraudulent advertising. We are also banning SIM farms, technical devices that allow criminals to send thousands of scam texts and calls at once, as part of the ongoing passage of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps he has taken with his international counterparts to enable humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.

We call on the Government of Israel to abide by its international obligations to ensure full, rapid, safe and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza, now. The Foreign Secretary regularly presses his Israeli counterparts on these issues. We are calling on the Government of Israel to allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza, and let the UN and humanitarians save lives. On 13 May the UK, along with European partners, called an urgent session of the UN Security Council to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. I spoke with the Israeli Ambassador on 20 May to make clear that the UK stands firmly against Israel's resumption of military action in Gaza, its wholly inadequate plan for aid delivery, and to demand that a full and unhindered resumption in the flow of aid into Gaza takes place immediately.