Department for Science, Innovation & Technology

BT has a range of resilient solutions, including a battery back-up unit and hybrid phone. These solutions are compliant with, and in some cases exceed, Ofcom’s requirement to provide a back-up facility for emergency calls for a minimum of 1 hour during a power outage. It is worth noting that other providers may offer different solutions.

The BT hybrid phone with a mobile SIM card inside is not a solution that will be offered to customers that have no mobile signal where they live. Instead, they will be offered a battery back-up unit which will enable them to make a phone call in the event of a power cut. These solutions are available free-of-charge to vulnerable customers - those who use a telecare device, only use landlines and or are over the age of 75, without mobile signal or broadband or have disclosed other additional needs. These will be available for all to purchase if they wish.

Many Communication Providers, including BT, engage regularly with other broadband providers, Ofcom and power companies about the resilience of their networks and have robust contingency plans in place to protect their customers in the event of planned power outages.

Landline only customers will not be required to take a paid broadband service from providers if they do not wish to. Instead, they will be provided with a dedicated internet connection and router specifically for their landline service at no extra cost.

With regard to telecare systems, lifeline alarm systems or remote ringers, I cannot state definitively which products would function over Digital Voice or which would need modification or replacement, given the range of devices and providers across these sectors. However, Digital Voice telecare devices do exist for all use cases. Furthermore, the switch to Digital Voice has already taken place in other countries; in these cases, all telecare users have been provided Digital Voice compatible devices. DSIT has been working with the Department for Health and Social Care and the telecare industry to raise awareness of the migration and to help identify alternatives, while BT and other providers have set up test labs for manufacturers to test their equipment.

BT has engaged with a broad range of external stakeholders as part of its Digital Voice migration programme. The Digital Voice Advisory Group (DVAG) has advised BT on how best to support and engage with customers who will require additional support to migrate to Digital Voice. Members of the DVAG include representative groups and charities such as Age UK, the Department of Health and Social Care, Independent Age, Rural Services Network, and Which?. BT has also invited other organisations to attend meetings on an ad hoc basis. Other Communication Providers operate similar programmes to raise awareness.

BT has engaged with local authorities in a number of areas related to Digital Voice, although no local authorities are formal members of DVAG. BT is working with local authorities via industry working groups to discuss issues such as telecare and frequently engages with the Local Government Association about Digital Voice.

BT has a range of resilient solutions, including a battery back-up unit and hybrid phone. These solutions are compliant with, and in some cases exceed, Ofcom’s requirement to provide a back-up facility for emergency calls for a minimum of 1 hour during a power outage. It is worth noting that other providers may offer different solutions.

The BT hybrid phone with a mobile SIM card inside is not a solution that will be offered to customers that have no mobile signal where they live. Instead, they will be offered a battery back-up unit which will enable them to make a phone call in the event of a power cut. These solutions are available free-of-charge to vulnerable customers - those who use a telecare device, only use landlines and or are over the age of 75, without mobile signal or broadband or have disclosed other additional needs. These will be available for all to purchase if they wish.

Many Communication Providers, including BT, engage regularly with other broadband providers, Ofcom and power companies about the resilience of their networks and have robust contingency plans in place to protect their customers in the event of planned power outages.

Landline only customers will not be required to take a paid broadband service from providers if they do not wish to. Instead, they will be provided with a dedicated internet connection and router specifically for their landline service at no extra cost.

With regard to telecare systems, lifeline alarm systems or remote ringers, I cannot state definitively which products would function over Digital Voice or which would need modification or replacement, given the range of devices and providers across these sectors. However, Digital Voice telecare devices do exist for all use cases. Furthermore, the switch to Digital Voice has already taken place in other countries; in these cases, all telecare users have been provided Digital Voice compatible devices. DSIT has been working with the Department for Health and Social Care and the telecare industry to raise awareness of the migration and to help identify alternatives, while BT and other providers have set up test labs for manufacturers to test their equipment.

BT has engaged with a broad range of external stakeholders as part of its Digital Voice migration programme. The Digital Voice Advisory Group (DVAG) has advised BT on how best to support and engage with customers who will require additional support to migrate to Digital Voice. Members of the DVAG include representative groups and charities such as Age UK, the Department of Health and Social Care, Independent Age, Rural Services Network, and Which?. BT has also invited other organisations to attend meetings on an ad hoc basis. Other Communication Providers operate similar programmes to raise awareness.

BT has engaged with local authorities in a number of areas related to Digital Voice, although no local authorities are formal members of DVAG. BT is working with local authorities via industry working groups to discuss issues such as telecare and frequently engages with the Local Government Association about Digital Voice.

BT has a range of resilient solutions, including a battery back-up unit and hybrid phone. These solutions are compliant with, and in some cases exceed, Ofcom’s requirement to provide a back-up facility for emergency calls for a minimum of 1 hour during a power outage. It is worth noting that other providers may offer different solutions.

The BT hybrid phone with a mobile SIM card inside is not a solution that will be offered to customers that have no mobile signal where they live. Instead, they will be offered a battery back-up unit which will enable them to make a phone call in the event of a power cut. These solutions are available free-of-charge to vulnerable customers - those who use a telecare device, only use landlines and or are over the age of 75, without mobile signal or broadband or have disclosed other additional needs. These will be available for all to purchase if they wish.

Many Communication Providers, including BT, engage regularly with other broadband providers, Ofcom and power companies about the resilience of their networks and have robust contingency plans in place to protect their customers in the event of planned power outages.

Landline only customers will not be required to take a paid broadband service from providers if they do not wish to. Instead, they will be provided with a dedicated internet connection and router specifically for their landline service at no extra cost.

With regard to telecare systems, lifeline alarm systems or remote ringers, I cannot state definitively which products would function over Digital Voice or which would need modification or replacement, given the range of devices and providers across these sectors. However, Digital Voice telecare devices do exist for all use cases. Furthermore, the switch to Digital Voice has already taken place in other countries; in these cases, all telecare users have been provided Digital Voice compatible devices. DSIT has been working with the Department for Health and Social Care and the telecare industry to raise awareness of the migration and to help identify alternatives, while BT and other providers have set up test labs for manufacturers to test their equipment.

BT has engaged with a broad range of external stakeholders as part of its Digital Voice migration programme. The Digital Voice Advisory Group (DVAG) has advised BT on how best to support and engage with customers who will require additional support to migrate to Digital Voice. Members of the DVAG include representative groups and charities such as Age UK, the Department of Health and Social Care, Independent Age, Rural Services Network, and Which?. BT has also invited other organisations to attend meetings on an ad hoc basis. Other Communication Providers operate similar programmes to raise awareness.

BT has engaged with local authorities in a number of areas related to Digital Voice, although no local authorities are formal members of DVAG. BT is working with local authorities via industry working groups to discuss issues such as telecare and frequently engages with the Local Government Association about Digital Voice.

BT has a range of resilient solutions, including a battery back-up unit and hybrid phone. These solutions are compliant with, and in some cases exceed, Ofcom’s requirement to provide a back-up facility for emergency calls for a minimum of 1 hour during a power outage. It is worth noting that other providers may offer different solutions.

The BT hybrid phone with a mobile SIM card inside is not a solution that will be offered to customers that have no mobile signal where they live. Instead, they will be offered a battery back-up unit which will enable them to make a phone call in the event of a power cut. These solutions are available free-of-charge to vulnerable customers - those who use a telecare device, only use landlines and or are over the age of 75, without mobile signal or broadband or have disclosed other additional needs. These will be available for all to purchase if they wish.

Many Communication Providers, including BT, engage regularly with other broadband providers, Ofcom and power companies about the resilience of their networks and have robust contingency plans in place to protect their customers in the event of planned power outages.

Landline only customers will not be required to take a paid broadband service from providers if they do not wish to. Instead, they will be provided with a dedicated internet connection and router specifically for their landline service at no extra cost.

With regard to telecare systems, lifeline alarm systems or remote ringers, I cannot state definitively which products would function over Digital Voice or which would need modification or replacement, given the range of devices and providers across these sectors. However, Digital Voice telecare devices do exist for all use cases. Furthermore, the switch to Digital Voice has already taken place in other countries; in these cases, all telecare users have been provided Digital Voice compatible devices. DSIT has been working with the Department for Health and Social Care and the telecare industry to raise awareness of the migration and to help identify alternatives, while BT and other providers have set up test labs for manufacturers to test their equipment.

BT has engaged with a broad range of external stakeholders as part of its Digital Voice migration programme. The Digital Voice Advisory Group (DVAG) has advised BT on how best to support and engage with customers who will require additional support to migrate to Digital Voice. Members of the DVAG include representative groups and charities such as Age UK, the Department of Health and Social Care, Independent Age, Rural Services Network, and Which?. BT has also invited other organisations to attend meetings on an ad hoc basis. Other Communication Providers operate similar programmes to raise awareness.

BT has engaged with local authorities in a number of areas related to Digital Voice, although no local authorities are formal members of DVAG. BT is working with local authorities via industry working groups to discuss issues such as telecare and frequently engages with the Local Government Association about Digital Voice.

The UK government’s approach to China is rooted in the UK national interest. We will not accept collaborations which compromise our national security. We have taken steps to significantly strengthen the UK’s protections from overseas interference in our higher education and research sector, including through our Trusted Research Campaign and the direct support offered by the Research Collaboration Advice Team. The updated International Education Strategy also advises Universities to ensure they have appropriate processes in place to manage risks associated with dependence on a single source of funding. As part of the Integrated Review Refresh, we are conducting a detailed review of the measures designed to support our academic sector to keep their research secure.

The UK government’s approach to China is rooted in the UK national interest. We will not accept collaborations which compromise our national security. We have taken steps to significantly strengthen the UK’s protections from overseas interference in our higher education and research sector, including through our Trusted Research Campaign and the direct support offered by the Research Collaboration Advice Team. The updated International Education Strategy also advises Universities to ensure they have appropriate processes in place to manage risks associated with dependence on a single source of funding. As part of the Integrated Review Refresh, we are conducting a detailed review of the measures designed to support our academic sector to keep their research secure.

The UK government’s approach to China is rooted in the UK national interest. We will not accept collaborations which compromise our national security. We have taken steps to significantly strengthen the UK’s protections from overseas interference in our higher education and research sector, including through our Trusted Research Campaign and the direct support offered by the Research Collaboration Advice Team. The updated International Education Strategy also advises Universities to ensure they have appropriate processes in place to manage risks associated with dependence on a single source of funding. As part of the Integrated Review Refresh, we are conducting a detailed review of the measures designed to support our academic sector to keep their research secure.

Ofcom collects coverage data as part of its reporting requirements, most recently published in its Connected Nations summer update, with data for the period to April 2023. Ofcom provides coverage data for premises, and we are unable to break this down between households and other premises.

Ofcom estimates that around 30,000 premises in the UK (0.1%) and 13,000 premises in England (less than 0.1%) lack access to either a fixed broadband network with ‘decent broadband’ (at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload speed) or good indoor 4G coverage.

In the constituency of Coventry North East, 381 premises lack access to either a fixed broadband network with ‘decent broadband’ (at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload speed). For the Coventry City Council area that figure is 1,137. Ofcom does not publish aggregated data for the region of the West Midlands, however more data can be found in Ofcom’s Connected Nations reports.

In respect of mobile coverage, Ofcom reports that 132,383 premises across England do not have indoor 4G mobile coverage from any MNO. This falls to 11,222 premises for 4G outdoor coverage. With 2G and 3G coverage added in, 9,622 premises do not have indoor data coverage from any MNO, falling to 1,127 premises without outdoor data coverage. Unfortunately, Ofcom data does not enable us to make an assessment of the number of premises in the West Midlands, the Coventry North East constituency, or the Coventry local authority area that do not have coverage from any mobile network operator.

The Government is committed to increasing diversity within the technology sector. We do this by working with external organisations and employers, and highly value this collaboration to overcome current barriers. We are also improving diversity in the cyber security sector through the National Cyber Strategy. This focuses particularly on attracting more woman and girls to the cyber profession, and includes the CyberFirst Girls Competition which saw over 12,500 girls (aged 12-13) take part this year alone.

We have supported the Tech Talent Charter (TTC) since 2017, a not-for-profit organisation that provides measurement and insights into diversity through its work with over 700 organisations and across 42 industry sectors, representing 160,000 people in UK technology roles. This year, we also commissioned Color in Tech to deliver research exploring what works for attracting and retaining ethnically diverse talent within the technology sector. The data was used to create a best practice toolkit for employers to build an inclusive workplace environment.

HMG supports diverse entrepreneurs through the £12m Digital Growth Grant, delivered by Barclays Eagle Labs to support startups across the UK. In addition to a range of accelerator programmes, mentorship and educational materials funded by the grant, Barclays Eagle Labs and specialist partners are running growth programmes targeted specifically at female founders and black founders. Among the grant’s primary objectives is that at least 35% of all entrepreneurs supported by the programme will come from diverse backgrounds.

Additionally, the £30 million AI and Data Science Conversion Course programme was established to address the lack of diversity and supply of talent in the UK AI labour market. It is funding up to 3000 scholarships for students from backgrounds underrepresented in the tech industry. We are working with industry to co-fund these scholarships - for every one scholarship that industry funds, the government will fund an additional three across the programme. The Digital Skills Council is also harnessing industry efforts to support further action on digital upskilling and improve the diversity of the digital workforce.

The Francis Crick Institute was founded in 2015 by UK Research and Innovation’s Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, and the Wellcome Trust, with university partners. In 2021-22 the Crick was provided with a 7 year settlement of £1 billion in core funding by its three founding members, £406 million of which (41%) came from MRC. Part of this funding is used to employ Crick staff involved in commercialisation activities.

The Government is delivering on its commitment to build a whole-UK space ecosystem by working with businesses, academia and Devolved Administrations.

The UK Space Agency has supported each nation to establish Space Clusters to grow their local space sectors, and works collaboratively with local partners to deliver its major funding programmes and events. This includes the government’s Spaceflight programme, and hosting roadshows, workshops, and the regional ESA Business Support Ambassadors.

This year UKSA has funded over £10 million through the Space Clusters Infrastructure Fund to companies in Wales and Scotland, and over £1 million to strengthen the Northern Ireland Space Cluster.

This Government is committed to protecting those who are most vulnerable to online scams.

The Online Safety Act will require social media providers to take steps to safeguard their users from illegal scams and fraudulent advertising. In overseeing the framework, Ofcom must ensure that there are adequate protections for those that are most vulnerable to online harm.

The legislation also expands Ofcom’s duty to promote media literacy under the 2003 Communications Act. The regulator is now required to raise the public’s awareness of how to keep themselves and others safe online. It will need to publish a strategy for achieving this, which must be updated every three years.

In tandem, the Government is taking action to improve people’s media literacy more widely. In July 2021, we published the Online Media Literacy Strategy. This seeks to support the empowerment of internet users with the skills they need to make safe and informed choices online. Through the Strategy, the Government is funding multiple organisations to support the media literacy and critical thinking skills of vulnerable internet users.

The Government is monitoring the security threats unique to cellular internet-of-things modules. We have already taken action to ensure that emerging security threats relating to consumer IoT products can be addressed through the security regime established by the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022. We will introduce further security requirements using the powers in this Act if necessitated by the evolving threat landscape. The Integrated Review Refresh, published in March 2023, highlighted the challenge posed by China. The Government is updating the UK’s approach to China to keep pace with the evolving challenge it poses to the international order.

The government has set itself a mission that, by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal, with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution, with a simplified, long-term funding settlement. At Spring Budget, the government announced the trailblazer devolution deals with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and West Midlands Combined Authorities (WMCA), which included a commitment to introduce single funding settlements at the next Spending Review for these MCAs. At Autumn Statement, the government published a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GMCA and WMCA, setting out how the single settlements will work. The government also announced an ambitious new ‘level 4’ of the devolution framework, including a single transport funding settlement for eligible institutions, and a ‘consolidated’ pot at the next multi-year SR covering two DLUHC investment themes – local growth and place, and housing and regeneration. Following successful delivery of the ‘consolidated’ pot, and learning from the trailblazers, Level 4 institutions will then become eligible to receive a single settlement from the subsequent multi-year Spending Review.

Details of major funding programmes, including those administered by local government or other local bodies, are available on gov.uk.

DSIT’s £100 million Innovation Accelerators programme is accelerating the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters in Glasgow, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

The programme is pioneering a new model of R&D decision-making that empowers local leaders to harness innovation in support of regional economic growth. Partnerships of local government, business and R&D institutions in the three city regions led on selecting 26 projects for funding, working closely with Innovate UK.

DSIT also provides grant funding to local authorities for telecoms R&D projects through its Future Networks Programme.

As of 21 November 2023, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as a Ministerial Department, has zero red-rated legacy IT systems as defined in the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) Legacy IT Risk Assessment Framework.

The Government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit connectivity as soon as possible. According to ThinkBroadband, an independent broadband news and information site, over 78% of UK premises can now access gigabit-capable broadband, which represents significant progress since January 2019, when coverage was just 6%. We are currently on track to achieve our target of 85% coverage by 2025.

We have created a competition-friendly environment in areas where deployment is commercially viable. This Government has also reduced barriers to broadband rollout. For example, we passed the Product Security and Telecoms Infrastructure Act in 2022, making it cheaper and easier for companies to deploy, upgrade and share infrastructure. As a result, there is now a thriving market of over 100 providers who are estimated to invest nearly £40bn by 2030 in rolling out gigabit broadband all over the UK.

The Government is also investing £5bn as part of Project Gigabit to ensure the hardest-to-reach areas in the UK receive coverage. Through our 12 Project Gigabit contracts and 27 current live procurements, we have made over £2 billion of funding available to suppliers to bring gigabit-capable broadband to up to 1.1 million premises in hard-to-reach parts of the country.

Over 98% of premises in Elmet and Rothwell already have access to a superfast broadband connection (over 30Mbps) and over 83% have access to gigabit-capable broadband (>1000 Mbps). This is above the national average of 97% for superfast coverage and 79% for gigabit coverage respectively.

In April 2023, as part of Project Gigabit, we launched a procurement inviting broadband suppliers to bid for a contract to bring gigabit-capable broadband to the remaining premises in West Yorkshire, including in Elmet and Rothwell, that are unlikely to be reached by broadband suppliers' commercial rollout plans. We aim to award a contract to the successful supplier in early 2024.

It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.

The assurance that identifiable data will not be shared with any organisation, including insurance companies, was provided to participants at the time of recruitment, and still applies. Members of the public invited to join UK Biobank were given information leaflets and a consent form that stated that de-identified data would be made available to researchers from across industry, academia, charitable and government sectors if the applications met the required thresholds of including a bona fide researcher and doing health-related research in the public good.

The Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) existing powers enable them to address a wide range of current and emerging risks relating to AI within their remit. The ICO has assessed how data protection applies in an AI context. They have identified it as a priority area, due to its potential to pose a high risk to individuals and their rights and freedoms. The ICO has already produced guidance and practical resources, including guidance on ‘AI and Data Protection’, clarifying requirements for fairness in AI.

More broadly, many UK regulators are already taking action to regulate AI in their existing remits, including developing new regulatory tools in the context of AI. For example, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has published a roadmap for software and AI as a medical device and the Competition and Markets Authority recently published a report on their initial review of AI foundation models. Alongside this, we have begun work to establish a new central function to support regulators to deliver the AI regulatory framework, enabling knowledge exchange and support regulator coordination. We are engaging closely with regulators across the UK and their sponsoring government departments to understand their readiness to regulate AI effectively. This will inform our work to develop policy options with a view to addressing gaps that emerge, which could include future consideration of extending a regulator’s remit or adding additional powers.

The accounting systems track IT spend, but do not capture the level of detail to readily identify spend on Infrastructure or legacy systems. Determination of legacy IT will require more work, the Legacy Risk Assessment will be prepared and submitted to Cabinet by the end of the current Financial year. Currently, within our centrally managed Digital function, there is no legacy IT of any material size or value.

The AI Safety Summit was attended by representatives from governments, multilateral organisations, and companies at the frontier of AI as well as leading academic experts and wider industry and civil society with an important stake in the safe development of frontier AI. In the run-up to the Summit, the government engaged widely to ensure that a diverse range of perspectives were reflected. A list of those organisations which attended the Summit has been published and can be found here.

As the Department with responsibility for AI policy and strengthening the UK’s capabilities in AI, DSIT will continue to look to identify new uses for AI in the public sector. The work the department started on AI for Good during the summit will support this. We will work with the recently established Incubator for Artificial Intelligence and with departments and public sector organisations leading on identifying use cases in their remit to drive responsible innovation in AI across the public sector.

The subsurface enables a wide range of essential services that underpin our economy and society. The Government continues to invest to develop our understanding of the subsurface, for example:

• The British Geological Survey provide access to nationally significant subsurface data to support planning and the energy transition.
• The Geospatial Commission’s emerging National Underground Asset Register, a revolutionary digital map of underground pipes and cables, is expected to grow the economy by £5bn over the next decade.
• The Government Office for Science’s ‘Future of the Subsurface’ project is exploring current and future uses of the spaces beneath our feet.

The Review of Research England’s (RE) approach to Strategic Institutional Research Funding (SIRF) which includes quality-related research (QR), will assess the effectiveness of unhypothecated research funding for Higher Education Providers. It will assess the principles and assumptions underlying current approaches and evaluate implementation. The review, set for 2024, will update the evidence on SIRF's impact, enhance transparency, and engage the Higher Education sector. RE will commission an independent review on the 'Impact of SIRF' in December 2023 and stakeholder workshops in Summer 2024. Any changes to funding approaches will not be implemented before Academic Year 2026-2027.

As a result of the UK’s bespoke deal on association to Horizon Europe and Copernicus, the government has been able to announce substantive investment in wider research and development (R&D) priorities. The £750 million package is fully funded from the government’s record 2021 Spending Review funding settlement for R&D. This includes £250 million for Discovery Fellowships, £145 million for new business innovation support and funding to support a new National Academy of mathematical sciences. These are transformative new programmes that maximise opportunities for UK researchers, businesses and innovators. We will also continue to deliver a multi-billion-pound package of support through the existing Horizon Europe Guarantee.

The £20 million of funding comes from the £121 million in funding announced as a first response to Lord O’Shaughnessy’s recommendations on improving the UK’s commercial clinical trial offer. This £20m is part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's budget. This funding forms part of our manifesto commitment to double dementia research funding by 2024/25.

The Levelling Up White Paper (published in February 2022) committed to a R&D Levelling Up Mission, recognising the uneven distribution of gross R&D (GERD) spending across the UK.

DSIT is delivering this mission to increase public R&D investment outside the Greater South-East by at least 40% by 2030, and at least one-third over this spending review period.

We are making progress through investing £100 million for 3 Innovation Accelerators (Greater Manchester, West Midlands and Glasgow) for example, and investing £75 million for 10 Innovate UK Launchpads, £312 million for 12 Strength in Places Fund projects and £60 million for the Regional Innovation Fund.

The Levelling Up White Paper (published in February 2022) committed to a R&D Levelling Up Mission, recognising the uneven distribution of gross R&D (GERD) spending across the UK.

DSIT is delivering this mission to increase public R&D investment outside the Greater South-East by at least 40% by 2030, and at least one-third over this spending review period.

We are making progress through investing £100 million for 3 Innovation Accelerators (Greater Manchester, West Midlands and Glasgow) for example, and investing £75 million for 10 Innovate UK Launchpads, £312 million for 12 Strength in Places Fund projects and £60 million for the Regional Innovation Fund.

The assurance that identifiable data will not be shared with any organisation, including insurance companies, was provided to participants at the time of recruitment, and still applies. Members of the public invited to join UK Biobank were given information leaflets and a consent form that stated that de-identified data would be made available to researchers from across industry, academia, charitable and government sectors if the applications met the required thresholds of including a bona fide researcher and doing health-related research in the public good.

The assurance that identifiable data will not be shared with any organisation, including insurance companies, was provided to participants at the time of recruitment, and still applies. Members of the public invited to join UK Biobank were given information leaflets and a consent form that stated that de-identified data would be made available to researchers from across industry, academia, charitable and government sectors if the applications met the required thresholds of including a bona fide researcher and doing health-related research in the public good.

The assurance that identifiable data will not be shared with any organisation, including insurance companies, was provided to participants at the time of recruitment, and still applies. Members of the public invited to join UK Biobank were given information leaflets and a consent form that stated that de-identified data would be made available to researchers from across industry, academia, charitable and government sectors if the applications met the required thresholds of including a bona fide researcher and doing health-related research in the public good.

The assurance that identifiable data will not be shared with any organisation, including insurance companies, was provided to participants at the time of recruitment, and still applies. Members of the public invited to join UK Biobank were given information leaflets and a consent form that stated that de-identified data would be made available to researchers from across industry, academia, charitable and government sectors if the applications met the required thresholds of including a bona fide researcher and doing health-related research in the public good.

The assurance that identifiable data will not be shared with any organisation, including insurance companies, was provided to participants at the time of recruitment, and still applies. Members of the public invited to join UK Biobank were given information leaflets and a consent form that stated that de-identified data would be made available to researchers from across industry, academia, charitable and government sectors if the applications met the required thresholds of including a bona fide researcher and doing health-related research in the public good.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all UK premises have access to fast and reliable broadband connectivity. Over 78% of UK premises can access gigabit-capable broadband, which represents significant progress since January 2019, when coverage was just 6%.

Ofcom estimates that around 30,000 premises in the UK (0.1%) lack access to either a fixed broadband network with ‘decent broadband’ (at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload speed) or good indoor 4G coverage. A full breakdown is available by local authority and/or constituency in Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2022 report. Ofcom’s UK Home Broadband Performance Report also provides information on the reliability and peak performance of fixed broadband connections.

The Government is committed to addressing the issues set out in the Independent Review of Research Bureaucracy. We are working with other government departments, funders and sector representative bodies to finalise a comprehensive response to the Review and will publish it in due course. In the meantime, government departments and funding bodies have begun implementing several of the Review’s recommendations. We have established a Review Implementation Network, bringing together senior representatives from across the research funding system, to deliver the recommendations of the review and maintain momentum on this issue.

The Government recognises the fast-moving development of AI systems, including those used to generate fake audio and the potential of such tools for facilitating criminal offences such as fraud.

The Online Safety Act received Royal Assent on 26 October. It has been designed to keep pace with emerging technologies, and to provide Ofcom with broad horizon-scanning and robust information-gathering powers so that it can review and regulate technologies effectively.

The Act’s illegal content duties require providers to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share illegal content. and to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring. Services must also take steps to prevent content that constitutes a priority offence from appearing on their service — this includes a number of fraud and financial crime offences.

This applies to fake-audio content, whether that content is created by a human of AI-generated. On services it regulates, the Act will regulate AI-generated content in much the same way it does content created by humans.

Further, ahead of the Bills implementation, the Government plans to deliver a voluntary Online Fraud Charter. This charter will demonstrate the ambition of signatories to work with the Government to tackle online fraud.

In March, we published the AI Regulation White Paper, which set out a regulatory framework to drive responsible, safe AI innovation. The White Paper set out five core principles to govern AI, and committed to establishing mechanisms to monitor AI risk, and coordinate, evaluate and adapt the regulatory framework as the technology evolves.

Since publishing the White Paper, we have taken rapid steps to implement our approach. We have established a central AI risk function in DSIT which will ensure that we can identify, measure and monitor existing and emerging AI risks. We are also engaging closely with regulators across the UK and their sponsoring government departments to understand their readiness to regulate AI effectively, across technical, regulatory, and market-specific expertise. Many regulators have already taken proactive steps to account for the impact of AI within their sectors – for example, the CMA has published its initial review of AI Foundation Models.

In the White Paper, we said that we do not intend to introduce new legislation at this stage. However, this is a fast-moving technology, and we will take action to mitigate risks and support safe and responsible AI innovation as required. We committed to an agile regulatory framework, and are monitoring current and emerging risks as AI evolves. As we have done throughout, we will develop our approach through engagement with industry and civil society, maintaining a pro-innovation approach that means AI improves the lives of the British people.

The consultation on the White Paper closed in June. During the consultation period, we heard from over 400 individuals and organisations across regulators, industry, academia, and civil society. We committed to an iterative approach that will evolve as new risks or regulatory gaps emerge. We will be setting out our next steps in our response to the White Paper consultation shortly.

The Online Safety Act, which received Royal Assent on 26 October, will bring in a new offence for intimate image abuse, which will criminalise the sharing of intimate images or films without consent.

Additionally, the government has committed to undertaking a review of pornography legislation, regulation and enforcement, which will assess whether the regulation of online pornography in the UK is fit for purpose in tackling exploitation and abuse.

Micromobility vehicles are zero emission, small, convenient and cheap compared to cars and present an opportunity for British businesses to create new products with global appeal. That is why Innovate UK and the Connected Place Catapult co-founded and created the Micro-Mobility forum, helping to maximise the industrial and economic opportunity of micro mobility for the UK. Innovate UK commissioned research published in April 2021: “Micromobility in the UK: Assessing the innovation opportunity”. In 2022, The High Value Manufacturing Catapult published Micromobility - a UK Roadmap

Government funds biomedical and biological research using animals and non-animal methodologies and technologies, recognising that the highly regulated and limited use of animals in scientific procedures remains necessary for understanding how biological systems work, in the development of new medicines, treatments and technologies, and for testing chemicals to protect human health and the environment. UKRI funds research and innovation aimed at reducing or eliminating the use of animals in research, providing approximately £10m per annum for the world-leading National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research to drive the development and uptake of 3Rs technologies – including organ-on-a chip and computer modelling.

Under the Online Safety Act, services likely to be accessed by children must protect children from legal content that presents a risk of harm. This includes cyberbullying and online abuse and harassment, which has been designated as ‘priority content that is harmful to children’. Companies must assess the risk to children from this kind of content and implement proportionate and age-appropriate protections.

All in-scope companies must tackle illegal content, including illegal abuse and harassment. Adult users of services designated as Category 1 will have greater control over the content they are exposed to.

The phrase Violence Against Women and Girls (otherwise known as ‘VAWG’) is an umbrella term used by the Government, which refers to acts of violence or abuse that we know disproportionately affect women and girls. This definition is set out in our 2021 Tackling VAWG Strategy which seeks to support all victims of these crimes, including male victims.

The Online Safety Act takes an approach which will protect all users online, which includes men and boys. The section 54 guidance is a summary document, pulling together measures that protect users from content and abuse as set out in the Act, that disproportionately affects women and girls, but do not only affect women and girls.

Ofcom will produce guidance which will summarise in one clear place measures that can be taken to tackle the abuse that women and girls disproportionately face online.

The guidance will capture online activity and content as set out in the Act, including the priority offences, the priority harms to children, and relevant content and activity subject to the Category 1 duties.

Ofcom’s timelines for producing the guidance are set out in its implementation plan which was published on 26 October 2023.