EU Technological Sovereignty Package

Baroness Kidron Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

Northern Ireland is an incredibly important region for us. It has, as the noble Baroness knows, very high levels of digital connectivity, which puts it in a great place. I know that it also benefits from a thriving and growing cyber security sector and is thus able to tap into many of the adjacent industries that are part of the AI economy as it grows. We are backing cyber businesses in Northern Ireland and supporting them to export and scale.

[Baroness Kidron (CB)]

My Lords, the EU’s tech sovereignty package recognises the importance of procurement in developing a wider sovereign technological regime. Yet, here in the UK, we are increasingly seeing extensive use of lock-in deals across Defence, Health, the Treasury and so on. Can the Minister say what actions the Government will take to prevent tech dependency when they offer public contracts to foreign-based firms to ensure that the UK retains the ultimate say over its policies across all departments?

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

The noble Baroness highlights the importance of having clear guidance and a clear framework for the public sector as it makes various procurements. That is why, for example, we have published the Cloud Challenge Book 2026, which helps to identify how the public sector can strengthen resilience, improve competition and reduce unnecessary dependency on individual suppliers. That is part of our approach to cloud procurement for the whole of the public sector.