Written questions by Dhesi.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to hold water companies to account for non-compliance with sewage management rules.

We will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, the Environment Agency (EA) will not hesitate to hold companies to account. From 1 January 2025, water companies will be required to publish data related to discharges from all storm overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning. In addition to this, the Water (Special Measures) Bill will introduce a similar duty for emergency overflows. This will create an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharged, and hold water companies to account. The Bill will also provide the most significant increase in enforcement powers to the regulators in a decade. These include new powers to enable the EA to recover costs associated with their enforcement activity of the water industry. In May 2024, the EA confirmed a tougher inspections and enforcement regime that will be backed by at least £55 million each year and will make better use of data analytics and technology. This will be fully funded through a combination of increased grant-in-aid from Defra and additional funding from water company permit charges.

Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of buildings have registered for the Cladding Safety Scheme in Slough constituency.

The Cladding Safety Scheme is able to confirm how many buildings based in the Slough constituency have registered with the scheme. To date, there have been six applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme in the Slough constituency. Two buildings were confirmed as not requiring remedial works in their Fire Risk Appraisal External Wall PAS 9980 reports, which are required to confirm eligibility to the scheme. These applications are now closed. Four are confirmed as in programme and have received pre-tender financial support. They are now compiling their works packages. This includes appointing a professional team, scoping the project and developing a works specification.

What proportion of patients referred to mental health services were seen within the target waiting time in Slough constituency in the last 12 months.

The following table shows the latest available performance data on waiting times against the existing mental health waiting time standards for NHS Frimley, which covers the Slough constituency, for the latest available 12-month reporting period, from October 2023 to September 2024: ServiceWaiting time standardTargetPerformance against waiting time standardEarly Intervention in Psychosis (EIP)Proportion of referrals on the EIP pathway entering treatment within two weeks60%77%Children and Young People's Eating DisordersProportion of urgent referrals entering treatment within one week of referral95%81%Children and Young People's Eating DisordersProportion of routine referrals entering treatment within four weeks of referral95%81%NHS Talking TherapiesProportion of referrals where the course of treatment finished and the person waited six weeks or less for first treatment contact75%94%NHS Talking TherapiesProportion of referrals where the course of treatment finished and the person waited 18 weeks or less for first treatment contact95%100%Source: Mental Health Services and NHS Talking Therapies datasets.

What steps he is taking to help to reduce the average diagnosis time for endometriosis.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission, and we are urgently looking into waiting times for gynaecological issues, including for endometriosis.Funding has been confirmed to support the delivery of our commitment to an extra 40,000 National Health Service operations, scans, and appointments per week, a first step to delivering on the 18-week standard.The Department is working with NHS England to support the establishment of at least one pilot women’s health hub in every integrated care system. This is a key step to reducing endometriosis diagnosis times, as they will include care for menstrual problems, including endometriosis.The recently updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline on the diagnosis of endometriosis will also help women to receive a diagnosis more quickly.

Media and Sport, what plans she has to extend the Listed Places of Worship Grants scheme beyond March 2025.

Departmental settlements have been set following the Budget announcement on October 30. Individual programmes will now be assessed during the departmental Business Planning process.

What recent steps he has taken to reduce the waiting time for ADHD assessments.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.We are supporting a taskforce that NHS England is establishing to look at ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD, and to help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand.Alongside the work of the taskforce, NHS England will continue to develop a national ADHD data improvement plan, carry out more detailed work to understand the provider and commissioning landscape, and capture examples from local health systems which are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services to ensure best practice is captured and shared across the system.

What recent estimate she has made of the average time taken to respond to hon. Members correspondence to her Department.

The Department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence and keeps this under constant review. The Cabinet Office publishes statistics on Departmental performance which can be found on the gov.uk website and can be viewed here.

What support his Department is providing to businesses in Slough to increase levels of exports of (a) goods and (b) services.

DBT supports companies like Montmartre Patisserie in Slough to export to locations such as Japan, Singapore and Spain. UK businesses, including those in Slough, can access DBT’s wealth of export support via Great.gov.uk. This comprises an online support offer and our wider network of support, which could include the Export Academy, our International Markets network, UK Export Finance and our International Trade Advisers, who use their experience of exporting and knowledge of SMEs to provide one-to-one tailored support to targeted businesses. Alongside this, across the UK, our Export Champions are sharing their experience of trading internationally, encouraging other businesses to export.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to help improve the (a) health and (b) welfare of farm animals.

The Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation. We are considering the most effective way to deliver this commitment and will be setting out next steps in due course. This will build on the support already available through the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, which includes access to testing for priority diseases and advice to continually improve the health, welfare and productivity of farmed animals through funded vet visits.

What steps his Department is taking to support local businesses in Slough High Street.

This government is committed to supporting businesses and communities that make our high streets, including those in Slough, successful. This means addressing anti-social behaviour and crime, rolling out banking hubs, stamping out late payments, empowering communities to make the most of the vacant properties, strengthening the Post Office network, reforming the apprenticeship levy, and reforming business rates. We will also use High Street Rental Auctions, to provide local authorities in England with a tool to tackle vacancy, promote minimum letting standards for commercial units and flexible rents. Slough council have used UK Shared Prosperity Fund money to establish a new weekly market in Slough high street. Small businesses in Slough also benefit from DBT’s Berkshire Growth Hub funding. Our Small Business Strategy Command Paper, to be published in 2025, will set out this government’s intentions on supporting small businesses across key areas, including thriving high streets.

What the average waiting time is for an ADHD Assessment in (a) Slough constituency and (b) the South East.

The data requested is not held centrally; it may be held locally by individual National Health Service trusts or commissioners.We are supporting a taskforce that NHS England is establishing to look at attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD, and help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand.Alongside the work of the taskforce, NHS England will continue to develop a national ADHD data improvement plan, carry out more detailed work to understand the provider and commissioning landscape, and capture examples from local health systems, which are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services to ensure best practice is captured and shared across the system.

What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the level of funding available for research into (a) Alzheimer's disease and (b) other forms of dementia.

The Department funds research into dementia via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR continues to invest in dementia research across all areas, from causes, diagnosis and prevention to treatment, care and support, including for carers.The NIHR has established several investments to boost progress and funding in dementia such as the £49.9 million Dementia Trials Network, which will deliver a coordinated network of early phase dementia trial sites. The NIHR is also funding two Dementia and Neurodegeneration Policy Research Units worth £3 million per unit to further boost evidence for policymaking. As well as this, the NIHR continues to fund the successful £13.5 million Three Schools Dementia Programme which links public health, primary care and social care via our NIHR research schools, namely Schools for Social Care, Public Health and Primary Care Research. The NIHR has also awarded almost £11 million of funding to develop new digital approaches for the early detection and diagnosis of dementia.The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including dementia. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

What steps his Department is taking to support local businesses in (a) Slough constituency and (b) Berkshire to access (i) funding and (ii) incentives for local net-zero projects.

Businesses have a vital role to play in the transition to net zero, from decarbonising their own operations, to working across their sectors and supply chains. Small and medium-sized businesses can visit the UK Business Climate Hub, which is run in partnership with government, for advice and sources of finance or support on reducing emissions. Climate Change Agreements provide tax discounts for businesses reducing their emissions, and the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund supports industrial sites with high energy use to transition.

What steps they are taking to use (a) artificial intelligence and (b) data to help increase their Department's productivity.

The Home Office manages directly, and on behalf of operational partners, significant data assets measured in the tens of billions of rows of data and millions of data subjects. This data is used every day to deliver public services, manage performance and deliver insight into policies. Its careful use, including sharing with key partners, supports the delivery of the government’s objectives as a whole.We are moving much of this data off legacy systems, including some up to 50 years old, and on to modern platforms. This is enabling improvement in the productivity of key operational activities, better performance management and improved strategic analysis. This is part of a broader programme of technology-enabled business change that supports productivity enhancements, through optimising business processes and improving safe and secure access to the data that staff need to perform their roles.We already make use of well-established artificial intelligence and automation enabled systems within the Home Office to improve business delivery as part of overall digital improvements in the department. In addition, we are running a small number of Generative AI trials to test their potential for productivity and quality improvements. These are supported by changes in our processes and policies, to ensure appropriate guidance and controls are in place for responsible adoption.

What steps they are taking to use (a) artificial intelligence and (b) data to help increase their Department's productivity.

The Department is committed to improving its productivity, including through artificial intelligence (AI), and effective use of data. To make AI and data work, the Department has focused on establishing the enablers for adopting AI responsibly, ethically, and at low cost, to ensure a high return on investment via productivity gains while also maintaining or improving process outcomes. Specifically, implementing governance and delivery structures that pool internal experts from across the Department and bring the consideration of ethics, information governance, cyber security, data science, analysis, and technology in line with guidance offered by the Central Digital and Data Office.The Department has developed proof-of-concept projects to test these structures, including a Parliamentary Intelligence tool that saves 40 hours per week of staff time and improves the quality of insights, and a partially automated approach to consultation analysis that reduces the cost and time to analyse large consultations, while respecting The Gunning Principles.The Department draws on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform our AI and data usage. For example, the Generative AI Framework, the Data Maturity Assessment, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard. The Department of Health and Social Care also has access to the Central Digital and Data Office, based in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, for expert advice.Underpinning the Department’s approach to AI is shaping a data driven culture in the Department to support and enhance data science and data analysis capabilities, providing high quality data and data products in a secure, safe, legal, and ethical way. The Department has a large and mature analytical function who put data and insights at the heart of decision making and policy development. For example, the Data Hub that collates nearly 500 metrics in 27 dashboards across 13 topic areas, providing data and insights on-demand to inform decisions. The Department does not currently have any plans to implement automated decision-making systems, and people remain in full control of decision making, with AI augmenting their work.The Department will continue to regularly review usage of AI and data to maximise productivity benefits for staff and the public.

What steps they are taking to use (a) artificial intelligence and (b) data to help increase their Department's productivity.

The Department for Transport has established an Organisational AI programme to effectively explore the potential of artificial intelligence to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of our work. It is structured to ensure safe, effective and appropriately targeted adoption, to deliver the greatest possible productivity benefits. We are collaborating with the Alan Turing Institute and the Office for National Statistics to measure the opportunities for productivity gains and prioritise the introduction of AI tools where they can bring the most benefit.

What steps they are taking to use (a) artificial intelligence and (b) data to help increase their Department's productivity.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to improving its productivity, including through artificial intelligence and effective use of data.For example, our Prison Network App built by our Data Science and AI teams link up multiple sources of administrative data to help detect prisoners involved with drug smuggling, gang violence and organised crime. This has reduced administrative burdens for more than 500 intelligence staff who use the app to identify connections between individuals in the prison population.Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) is an ambitious data-linking project, joining data from the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, among others. BOLD has produced a tool for probation staff which cuts down the duplication of data entry and significantly reduces the need for probation officers to search for data, freeing up their time to allow more offender management to reduce reoffending.Additionally, we have worked in partnership with the Alan Turing Institute to develop a framework for the Department to build and embed our ethical approach to the use of AI and data science, so that we can be confident that we understand the choices we make are ethically sound, with principles we can stand by as this area develops quickly. Most recently, the Ministry of Justice, in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, ran a unique collaboration between government and businesses to co-create innovative AI solutions to tackle some of the most complex challenges facing citizens today. The result of these collaborations will be communicated in due course.Additionally, we are developing guidance, training and learning opportunities for our staff to safely use AI tools. We draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform our AI and data usage. For example, the Generative AI Framework, the Data Maturity Assessment, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.We will continue to regularly review our usage of AI and data to maximise productivity benefits for staff and the public.

What steps his Department is taking to improve maternity services in (a) Slough constituency and (b) Berkshire.

The Department is supporting the National Health Service to deliver the three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services across England, to make care safer, personalised, and more equitable for women and babies. Improvement in the Slough and East Berkshire maternity services includes aligning with the three-year delivery plan, and involves:the recruitment of more midwives to significantly reduce vacancies and to have minimal shortages by 2025;increased access to services through a new maternity hub in Crowthorne;listening to women's voices through the maternity and neonatal voices partnership, with additional funding for targeted engagement with parents with a baby admitted to a neonatal unit;implementing an updated Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which is a package of interventions to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal deaths, and preterm birth; andpiloting a perinatal pelvic health service that provides women with information about pelvic health risks, signs of pelvic floor dysfunction, and prevention strategies.The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has focused on addressing inequalities by improving access to perinatal mental health services, interpreter availability, and antenatal and preconception information, with an increase in folic acid uptake in Slough.

What steps they are taking to use (a) artificial intelligence and (b) data to help increase their Department's productivity.

DESNZ is committed to improving its productivity, including through the use of artificial intelligence and effective use of data. All DESNZ staff have access to Copilot for the web, a work-safe generative AI tool that helps summarise and draft text. In addition, as part of a large-scale, cross-government experiment led by the CDDO, around a third of all DESNZ staff have been given a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, which allows them to utilise generative AI within tools such as Word, Excel and Outlook, and can base responses on their own data (documents, emails, and messages). The experiment began on 30 September and runs through to 29 December and will conclude with a report from the CDDO to set out the case for adopting a tool like M365 Copilot in the longer-term. We are also building our inhouse capability to develop AI tools at DESNZ. For example, our Advanced Analytics team are currently exploring multiple use cases that allow DESNZ staff to retrieve key information needed for their work more efficiently, including information from past impact assessments, lessons learnt logs and statistics from our Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) publications. DESNZ has an internal adoption of AI working group which leads on supporting the development of departmental use-cases for Artificial Intelligence, as well as the guardrails, rules and playbooks that govern the safe, secure and ethical use of this technology, ensuring alignment to the Central Digital and Data Office’ Generative AI Framework for Government. DESNZ's Data Strategy and Governance team are currently developing a data strategy for DESNZ that sets out our strategic ambition for how we collect, manage and use data as a Department. This includes time-saving measures around making it easier for DESNZ staff to locate and access data, making it easier for data to be shared across organisational boundaries, reducing the time taken to ingest, process and cleanse it, and introducing standards that make it easier to aggregate and compare across policies and programmes. We will continue to regularly review our usage of AI and data to maximise productivity benefits.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps they are taking to use (a) artificial intelligence and (b) data to help increase their Department's productivity.

Artificial Intelligence and data offer significant opportunities for the FCDO to enhance decision-making, productivity and increase the effectiveness of its interventions.The FCDO is implementing a multi-year Digital, Data, and Cyber Security Strategy to transform its operational capabilities and ensure it has the digital backbone of technology, data and expertise to enable these. A new team, FCDO.ai, has been established to lead on AI adoption and ensure its responsible use.The FCDO is collaborating with partners across HMG and internationally, as well as with the private sector including start-ups and SMEs, to exploit shared opportunities and address the new and evolving security risks posed by these technological advances.