Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to increase awareness of Horizon Europe funding opportunities among British manufacturers.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government is committed to maximising UK applications to Horizon Europe.
We are engaging closely with representatives of the manufacturing industry, as well as wider businesses and academia, through our new sector engagement systems group. In addition, this Government has appointed National Contact Points to provide expert advice on Horizon Europe.
To encourage UK researchers and businesses of all kinds to apply, we are delivering a series of popular roadshow events across the UK, with the next event in Glasgow on 12 June. This follows a successful multichannel advertising campaign.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on assessing the infrastructure needs for engineering biology companies across application areas looking to scale up in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department ran a call for evidence in 2023 to assess the needs of the engineering biology sector. This call for evidence included specific asks on infrastructure needs. This consultation has been supplemented through continued engagement with industry since the publication of the National Vision for Engineering Biology in December 2023. As set out in the National Vision for Engineering Biology, DSIT are developing plans to support infrastructure for engineering biology companies.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she next plans to meet the Life Sciences Council; how many times meetings of the Life Sciences Council have been rescheduled in the last three years; and on what date the Life Sciences Council last met.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The last meeting of the Life Sciences Council took place on Tuesday 21 November 2023. Since May 2021, the Life Sciences Council has been rescheduled twice, in May 2022 and May 2024. The Office for Life Sciences are currently agreeing a date for the next meeting of the Council with industry co-chairs. Once agreed, Officials will circulate the rescheduled date to members.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2024 on Government Departments: Artificial Intelligence, whether the detailed policy for the Algorithmic transparency recording standard has been agreed across all departments; and whether he has a planned timeline for compliance.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are implementing the mandatory rollout of the ATRS in phases, with the current, first phase focusing on the 16 largest ministerial departments, plus HMRC.
The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and the Central Digital and Data Office are working with these departments to map their in-scope algorithmic tools and draft their first ATRS records accordingly. These departments have now all reviewed a draft version of the scope and exemptions policy. We expect to circulate a finalised version of the policy by the end of May.
Regarding timelines for the wider rollout, expect these Phase One departments to publish their first ATRS records by the end of July. Departments finding no tools in scope will be required to submit a nil return. This will be followed by the next phase which involves extending the mandatory rollout to the remaining ministerial departments, and relevant arm’s-length bodies, from July onwards which the Central Digital and Data Office will monitor.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department holds information on the use of outdoor advertising infrastructure for digital data capture.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Any organisation capturing digital data that contains personal data is required to comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 which impose obligations on data controllers to process data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. Personal data should also be kept secure and not processed for longer than is necessary. Most of this information should be found in an organisation’s privacy notice which explains the collection and use of personal information.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2024 to Question 22348 on Public Expenditure, what his planned timetable is for publishing the response to David Willetts’ report.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT published the response to Lord Willetts’ independent review of the DSIT business case and approvals process on 1 May on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforming-the-dsit-business-case-process
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following concerns raised by the Competition and Markets Authority about potential 'over-dependence' on a small number of major tech firms in the AI industry, what steps they are taking (1) to promote competition, and (2) to prevent monopolistic practices, within the AI sector.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring that digital markets work well for businesses and consumers. It will be for the CMA in the first instance as the independent regulator to decide how to exercise its powers to address any competition issues in digital markets as they develop.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will give the CMA new, faster and more effective tools to identify and address competition issues in digital markets, including AI markets. These will apply where it finds firms have substantial and entrenched market power and a position of strategic significance in one or more digital activities. Subject to Parliamentary timings, the Bill is on track to receive Royal Assent in Spring, and we expect the regime will come into force in Autumn this year.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for reviewing the social tariff for broadband subscriptions, given Ofcom’s report of the low update of the current scheme.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government continues to work closely with Ofcom on the affordability of telecoms services, including social tariffs.
In December, Ofcom’s Pricing Trends report, showed that 380,000 UK households now take up a social tariff, an almost 160% increase from the previous September, but just 8.3% of the total number of eligible households.
The Government accepts that more is needed to ensure that low-income households are aware of social tariffs as well as other support that is available. However, it is also important to recognise that social tariffs may not be suitable for every household on Universal Credit, and commercial bundled packages - offering TV, broadband, landline and mobile services - may represent overall better value for money.
The Government and Ofcom continue to press operators to do more to raise awareness of social tariffs to their customers, with the regulator recently publishing research into the barriers to communicating offers to eligible households.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to update the Digital skills and inclusion policy published on 5 April 2017, and when they plan to publish an updated version.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The 2022 Digital Strategy outlined work across Government to promote digital inclusion and digital skills. HMG is investing £3.8bn in skills in England by 2024-25 and recently quadrupled the scale of Skills Bootcamps. Additionally, the Digital Skills Entitlement offers free basic digital skills training to adults in England.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is responsible for coordinating cross-Government digital inclusion policy. Digital inclusion is a cross-cutting issue and responsibility for relevant policies, including monitoring and evaluation, sit within individual government departments.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the AI Safety Institute, launched in November 2023, will report its findings, risk analysis and recommendations to Parliament.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Institute reports directly to the Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, who will provide updates to Parliament in the usual way. The AI Safety Institute will publish, and make available to Parliament, its findings where it is appropriate to do so, given consideration on proprietary, sensitive, or national security-related information.