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.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of the population they estimate will be digitally literate by 2030.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government has been clear that ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age is a key priority. The 2023 Consumer Digital Index found that 92% of UK adults have the ‘Essential Digital Skills for Life’.
The National Curriculum subject of computing ensures that pupils become digitally literate so that they are able to use, express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology, at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world. Computing is compulsory in all Local Authority maintained schools across Key Stages 1 to 4.
Media literacy is also included in the citizenship curriculum which is compulsory for all maintained secondary schools. Furthermore, under our ambitious Online Media Literacy Strategy, we have provided almost £2.5million in grant funding for projects designed to build the media literacy and critical thinking skills for users of all ages.
The government has also introduced a digital skills entitlement in August 2020 for adults with no or low digital skills to undertake specified digital qualifications, up to Level 1, free of charge. Such qualifications enable people to gain the skills needed to participate in modern life, access further study, and find and progress in work.
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 are being taken to address the concerns of the Chief Executive of the Competition and Markets Authority that a small number of tech companies creating AI Foundation Models are developing partnerships which shape the markets in their own interest.
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. 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 foundation model markets. The Bill is on track to receive Royal Assent in spring subject to parliamentary timings, and we expect the regime will come into force in Autumn this year. In the meantime, the CMA has been using its existing markets and mergers tools to look into AI foundation models.
It will be for the CMA as the independent regulator to decide how to exercise its new and existing powers to address any competition issues in digital markets as they develop.
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 are being taken by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to draft new legislation to regulate the growth of artificial intelligence applications.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In the AI Regulation White Paper consultation response, the Government noted that all countries will eventually need to legislate. The Government also set out initial thinking on the case for highly targeted binding measures for the most powerful general purpose AI models.
However, the Government emphasised that it would not rush to regulate until there is a mature understanding of risk, else regulation could prove ineffective and stifle innovation. The Government has also established the AI Safety Institute to understand and evaluate the safety of AI models within Government.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether national security clearance was sought by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and approved, before purchasing the Lenovo supercomputer from a Chinese electronics company.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government has been clear that when tensions arise between its objectives in relation to China, national security will always come first. This procurement took place through a robust public sector procurement process with all necessary qualifying security criteria
The UK's world leading cyber security experts are providing the necessary support and advice to assure the security of the system, as is normal.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (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 on university research and innovation of the reduction in applications from overseas postgraduate students.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are committed to ensuring the UK and our world-leading universities remain competitive and attractive to the brightest and the best and that UK students have chances to excel at postgraduate study.
Postgraduate courses in the UK attract healthy levels of interest from domestic and overseas graduates.
We will monitor this closely to ensure the UK continues to attract and retain the best research talent.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the estimated 33 per cent fall in overseas students on the financial viability of UK universities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government seeks to ensure that there is a fair and robust migration policy, whilst maintaining the UK’s place as a top destination for the best and brightest students from around the world. The department remains committed to the ambitions set out in the government’s International Education Strategy to host 600,000 international students per year and to increase the value of its education exports to £35 billion per year, both by 2030.
The department expects the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. The UK has four universities in the top ten, and 17 in the top 100. The UK has a highly sought after higher education (HE) experience, which is respected by students across the globe. The department is hugely proud to have met its international student recruitment ambition two years running.
However, the level of legal migration remains too high. As a result, on 4 December 2023, the government announced a new package of measures to reduce net migration and curb abuse and exploitation of the country’s immigration system.
Our universities are autonomous institutions responsible for managing their own budgets. The department works closely with the Office for Students, the independent regulator of the HE sector in England, to understand the evolving landscape including on risks relating to international students.
It also continues to work closely with the Home Office, the Department for Business and Trade, and other governmental departments to assess the impact of these changes on HE providers.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 22 January (HL1443), in what circumstances His Majesty's Revenue and Customs would seek account details from banks for specified categories of tax payers beyond individuals already suspected of fraud.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can ask for bank account details when reasonably required by the officer for the purpose of checking the taxpayer’s tax position, or for the purpose of collecting a tax debt of the taxpayer, as set out in Schedule 36 Finance Act 2008 information and inspection powers. They also have data-gathering powers that enable them to collect data from certain third parties to use in compliance activities and that includes requesting from financial institutions information relating to accounts of recipients of bank and building society interest, as detailed in Schedule 23 Finance Act 2011.
Operationally, when investigating, HMRC work on a case-by-case basis after identifying where tax is most at risk of not being paid, and design tailored, targeted and proportionate interventions to address it. They may need specific information to check a person's tax position where it may be incorrect, whether this inaccuracy was deliberate or erroneous. The vast majority of people co-operate with requests for such information and this collaborative approach enables HMRC to check the person's tax position quickly and effectively. Where this does not happen, they may use their legal powers to obtain the information directly from financial institutions.