Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for the United Kingdom's access to frontier AI models, in the light of the United States' decision to restrict access to Anthropic's most recent Mythos and Fable systems.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government takes AI sovereignty and security extremely seriously.
We are investing £500m in UK AI firms via our SovAI Fund, including in home-grown model developers, like Ineffable. This goes beyond just funding, to include support such as visas and procurement.
Sovereignty is not just about access to AI models. It is about building leverage over key parts of the value chain, such as AI hardware. That is why the Government has announced a £1.1 billion AI hardware plan.
Security is also fundamental to the Government's approach. Our AI Security Institute is world leading, and one of a handful of organisations with access to Mythos before release.
This means the UK is not a bystander. Canada, France, Germany and elsewhere recognise our leadership, and want to work with us to build sovereign assets and learn from our approach to risks.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what sovereign AI systems or partnerships they are pursuing to reduce dependence on US company frontier models.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government takes AI sovereignty and security extremely seriously.
We are investing £500m in UK AI firms via our SovAI Fund, including in home-grown model developers, like Ineffable. This goes beyond just funding, to include support such as visas and procurement.
Sovereignty is not just about access to AI models. It is about building leverage over key parts of the value chain, such as AI hardware. That is why the Government has announced a £1.1 billion AI hardware plan.
Security is also fundamental to the Government's approach. Our AI Security Institute is world leading, and one of a handful of organisations with access to Mythos before release.
This means the UK is not a bystander. Canada, France, Germany and elsewhere recognise our leadership, and want to work with us to build sovereign assets and learn from our approach to risks.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale of public investment needed to maintain meaningful UK sovereignty in AI infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
For Britain, AI sovereignty is about reducing over-dependencies and increasing resilience in key national strategic priorities, so we secure greater control and greater leverage over the issues that matter most. We will continue to use the best technology and welcome inward investment because that is what our public services and economy demand.
We recently announced a £1.1 billion AI Hardware Plan to back British firms developing the chips and computing power behind AI. This includes our Advance Market Commitment to buy novel inference chips, which will equip the UK’s AI Research Resource (AIRR) with powerful next generation chips. Dedicated AIRR capacity supports the AI Security Institute and the Sovereign AI Unit, including guaranteed resource for mission-critical AI safety research, and strategically selected UK AI startups. Over 500 UK projects have already been supported through AIRR infrastructure, and we are further investing £2 billion to expand our public compute offering.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of increasing levels of AI adoption on public sector efficiency.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the significant potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to improve public sector efficiency and productivity.
Analysis undertaken through the State of Digital Government Review indicates there is up to £45 billion per year in potential gains, including up to £36 billion from simplifying and automating delivery. Initial analysis by the Central Digital and Data Office found that baseline spend could be reduced by 31% through the use of AI. However, this is an estimate of opportunity, rather than a forecast or committed saving.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in improving their use of technology to deliver government priorities.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has made significant progress in improving its use of technology to deliver priorities across the public sector.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s Government Digital Service is established as the digital centre of government and sets out a clear framework through the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government and the 2026 Roadmap.
This includes accelerating adoption of cloud technologies, tackling legacy IT systems, expanding the use of artificial intelligence, and investing in shared digital infrastructure to deliver more joined-up, resilient and efficient public services.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in setting up AI growth zones.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
To date, Government has announced five AI Growth Zones: in Culham; the North East of England; Anglesey (North Wales); a South Wales Cluster (spanning from Newport to Bridgend); and Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Over £28 billion in private investment has been committed to these announced AI Growth Zones to date, with delivery of these projects underway across multiple sites.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support technological innovation.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Digital and Technologies sector plan, part of the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, aims to make the UK the best place in the world to start and scale a fast growing technology business.
The plan focuses on six frontier technologies - Advanced Connectivity Technologies, AI, cyber, engineering biology, quantum and semiconductors - where the UK has comparative advantage. We will take a cross government approach to developing these frontier technologies to grow including through, skills programmes, improving access to finance, support with energy costs and leveraging international opportunities.
Targeted R&D investment will also be critical to driving innovation and incentivising private sector investment in these technologies. That is why in this SR, £58.5 billion is allocated for DSIT to invest in R&D, including funding for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Innovate UK - the UK’s national innovation agency.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the AI Growth Lab on economic growth.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that artificial intelligence represents a defining economic opportunity for the coming decade. The OECD estimates that AI adoption could add 0.4 to 1.3 percentage points to the UK’s productivity growth- equivalent to adding £55-140 billion to UK GVA in 2030.
Lab would drive innovation and growth, super charging investment in innovative start-ups. The exact quantity of investment is uncertain, but firms participating in a previous FCA sandbox received 6.6 times more investment compared to non-participants.[1]
Early analysis indicates that lifting unnecessary legal barriers to AI in the Lab could unlock billions of pounds of GVA by 2035.
[1] Goo, J. and J. Heo (2020), “The Impact of the Regulatory Sandbox on the Fintech Industry, with a Discussion on the Relation between Regulatory Sandboxes and Open Innovation”, 6 J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex, https://www.mdpi.com/2199-8531/6/2/.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to facilitate US-based academics and researchers who may wish to consider relocating to the UK's higher education sector.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham
The government recognises and values the US as a key partner in R&D and look forward to continuing our collaboration on shared priorities to drive economic growth and technological advancement. Both the UK and US are committed to facilitating the exchange of talent and students to enhance R&D capabilities.
The government is committed to ensuring the UK is the top destination for globally mobile research talent based anywhere in the world. The UK boasts a world-leading science base, supported by top universities and research institutions, and has an ambitious funding offer through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Academies, which offer prestigious fellowships and professorships.