Parmjit Dhanda MP (Lab, Gloucester) - Former Minister of State at DCLG
Parmjit Dhanda has been the Labour MP for Gloucester since 2001. Parmjit got his first ministerial post in 2006, one year into his second Parliament. After spending a year as an assistant Government Whip he became junior Minister at the Department of Education and Skills, with responsibility for children, young people and families. In 2007 Parmjit was appointed Minister for Community Cohesion and Neighbourhoods in the Department of Communities and Local Government. His brief included the impact of migration and "preventing violent extremism". Parmjit returned to the backbenches in the reshuffle.
Born in 1971 of Sikh origins, Parmjit Dhanda was educated at a Hayes comprehensive school and Nottingham University. He was a councillor in Hillingdon for four years until 2002, and worked as a Labour Party agent and organiser, and assistant organiser for the communications union, Connect.
