Asked by: Baroness Kidron (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of their current spending on AI procurement goes to AI companies that are headquartered in the UK, and what proportion of those companies are small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
DSIT does not collate spending on AI procurement across all government departments. Procurement decisions and tracking of associated costs, including those for AI tools and services, are the primary responsibility of each individual government department. The government remains committed to providing new opportunities for UK AI companies to scale and succeed. The government is going further and faster to reform our approach to procurement so that it can shape markets and manage demand, putting in place measures to identify, nurture and protect the UK’s high-growth modern Industrial Strategy sectors like AI. DSIT’s role focuses on fostering an enabling ecosystem, and supporting the growth of the UK's AI sector, including through initiatives such as AI Growth Zones and pledging up to £100million through the Advanced Market Commitment to help AI hardware start-ups gain a competitive edge and win customers alongside established vendors.
Asked by: Baroness Kidron (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to including advice about supplier diversity and small and medium-sized enterprise participation in procurement in the Artificial Intelligence Playbook.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government is committed to supporting SMEs and British business as much as possible including through procurement. The current edition of the AI Playbook for government contains broad advice for decision makers looking to procure effective, ethical and safe systems. Updates to Government guidance will have lines on how to adhere to the Procurement Act (2023) which came into force this year. The Act has specific provisions to encourage government procurement from small and medium sized by enhancing transparency and competition.
Asked by: Baroness Kidron (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support UK-headquartered AI companies and small and medium-sized enterprises in AI procurement strategy.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is taking several steps to support UK-headquartered AI companies and SMEs in procurement: