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:
Asked by: Baroness Kidron (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the UK–Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will permit onward data transfers of UK personal data under Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross-Border Privacy Rules.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The UK is committed to maintaining high standards of protection for personal data, including when it is transferred across borders. Data provisions in Free Trade Agreements including the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) are separate but complementary to the UK’s adequacy process and international data protection frameworks.
Through CEPA, we have agreed to avoid unjustified restrictions on the free flow of data between the UK and Japan, and committed to maintaining a legal framework that provides for the protection of personal information. CEPA only addresses data flows between the UK and Japan and does not address onward transfers to other jurisdictions. The UK has not endorsed the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross Border Privacy Rules System (APEC CBPR).
Asked by: Baroness Kidron (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the monetary value of trade involving personal data between the UK and Japan.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
It is difficult to estimate figures for trade values involving personal data specifically, and the closest proxy we have is for data-enabled trade. We estimate that the value of data-enabled services trade with Japan is £12.9 billion, £7.0 billion of which is exports and £5.9 billion in imports. These values are derived from the Office of National Statistics 2019 trade figures.
Asked by: Baroness Kidron (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of accepting transfers made under Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross-Border Privacy Rules on (1) the privacy rights of (a) UK citizens, (b) children, and (c) disadvantaged groups, and (2) the enforcement of data protection provisions under Section 123 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The UK does not intend for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to provide a legal basis, as a matter of domestic law, for the cross border transfer of personal data.
The recently agreed UK–Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), for example, does not provide for the onward transfer of UK citizens’ data using the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross Border Privacy Rules System (APEC CBPR). It also does not alter the UK’s existing protections as enshrined in the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR, including the age-appropriate design code provisions in the DPA.
The UK is committed to working with international partners to remove unnecessary barriers to international data flows. This includes promoting interoperability between international data protection frameworks, which must ensure personal data is appropriately safeguarded.
Asked by: Baroness Kidron (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the monetary value of trade involving personal data between the UK and the EU.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
It is difficult to estimate figures for trade values involving personal data specifically, and the closest proxy we have is for data-enabled trade. We estimate that the value of data-enabled services trade between the UK and the EU is £143.7 billion, £91.4 billion of which is exports, and £52.3 billion in imports. These values are derived from the Office of National Statistics 2019 trade figures.