Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish the conflicts assessment prepared in accordance with section 83 of the Procurement Act 2023 in relation to the award of a contract to Mila Quebec AI Institute in May 2025 for the delivery of the 2025/2026 International AI Safety Report; and if not, whether they intend to publish a summary of the conflicts and proposed mitigations recorded in the assessment.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Section 83 of the Procurement Act 2023 requires contracting authorities to prepare, and keep under review, a conflicts assessment, and to confirm in the relevant procurement notice that this has been done. The Act does not require the conflicts assessment itself to be published. The Government has complied with this requirement by confirming in the relevant Contract Award Notice that a conflict of interest assessment was undertaken for this procurement.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what rules apply to AI Security Institute staff and advisers who hold roles with organisations that apply for, or receive funding from, programmes the Institute administers; whether a register of such roles is published; and which body is responsible for assessing the cumulative concentration of advisory, agenda-setting and funding-related roles among the same individuals and organisations following the transfer of responsibility for the Institute to the Cabinet Office.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The AI Security Institute’s staff are bound by the Civil Service Code, the Declaration and Management of Outside Interests guidance, and departmental Conflict of Interest Guidance. Staff are required to declare any outside interests that could give rise to an actual or perceived conflict. Declared interests are assessed and mitigated as appropriate.
Advisers are also subject to applicable conflict of interest, confidentiality and governance requirements through their terms of appointment, contracts or other engagement arrangements.
Conflicts of interest controls are also applied throughout the Institute’s commercial and grant-making activities, including procurement, supplier selection, contract award and management, grant assessment, award and ongoing grant management. Individuals involved must declare any actual, potential or perceived conflict before participating in contract or grant award decisions.
Senior Civil Servants' paid outside roles are published in line with cross Government requirements.
Following the Machinery of Government changes, responsibility for managing conflicts of interests at the AI Security Institute rests with the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary as Accounting Officer.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps government departments and police forces have taken to implement the revised Government Security Classifications Policy published in June 2023; and how that implementation is being monitored.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government takes the protection of its information assets extremely seriously, including keeping its protective security measures under review.
To implement the revised 2023 Government Security Classification Policy (GSCP) across Whitehall, the Cabinet Office took a number of steps, including: issuing guidance on implementation timelines; distributing a range of training resources and communications material; and providing guidance on enabling the policy on departmental IT systems.
Cross-government compliance with the GSCP is routinely monitored by the Cabinet Office under its existing annual assurance regime, the Departmental Security Health Check.
Police forces are operationally independent from the UK Government and therefore manage their own information security policies.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps government departments and police forces have taken to implement the revised Government Security Classifications Policy published in June 2023; and how that implementation is being monitored.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government takes the protection of its information assets extremely seriously, including keeping its protective security measures under review.
To implement the revised 2023 Government Security Classification Policy (GSCP) across Whitehall, the Cabinet Office took a number of steps, including: issuing guidance on implementation timelines; distributing a range of training resources and communications material; and providing guidance on enabling the policy on departmental IT systems.
Cross-government compliance with the GSCP is routinely monitored by the Cabinet Office under its existing annual assurance regime, the Departmental Security Health Check.
Police forces are operationally independent from the UK Government and therefore manage their own information security policies.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what role, if any, members of the expert advisory board for the AI Security Institute's Alignment Project have in individual funding decisions; what (1) interests those members declared, and (2) recusal arrangements were adopted, during the first funding round; and what was the total value and composition of the support awarded to LawZero.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Alignment Project is a global fund dedicated to accelerating progress in AI alignment research. It is led by the AI Security Institute and backed by an international coalition of governments, industry, venture capital and philanthropic funders. Since its launch over £27 million has been awarded to 60 projects dedicated to accelerating progress in AI alignment research. LawZero was awarded a grant of up to £697,756 over 21 months (June 2026 to March 2028), comprising of staff costs and overheads.
Grants are awarded via a multi-stage application and review process, operated in line with established government grant-making procedures. The Alignment Project's Expert Advisory Board has no role in individual grant selection or funding decisions of the Alignment Project.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when will the first AI Assurance Innovation Fund awards be announced; and what the typical award size will be.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The AI Assurance Innovation Fund will issue up to £11 million in funding to support the development of innovative and novel AI assurance mechanisms and help actors across the AI value chain identify and address the risks posed by high-capability AI systems, ensuring the UK is ready and equipped to respond to rapidly advancing AI capabilities.
The Centre for AI Measurement, led by the National Physical Laboratory, was established by Government to deliver on the objectives of the AI Assurance Innovation Fund, with a call for applications to be announced later this year. Fund awards will support industry, start-ups and researchers looking to develop novel assurance techniques in a variety of sectors.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Competition and Markets Authority on the expected timetable for the Strategic Market Status investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem; and what steps they are taking to ensure that any remedies to address competition concerns are implemented without undue delay.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The CMA launched its Strategic Market Status designation investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem on 14 May 2026.
This investigation must be completed within 9 months. An indicative timetable of this investigation is published on the CMA’s website. The CMA operates independently and decisions on which firms to investigate, and how these investigations are conducted rest solely with the CMA.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of software licensing restrictions on value for money for public sector organisations seeking to deploy Microsoft software on non-Microsoft cloud infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government does not maintain an aggregated assessment of departmental dependency on Microsoft software or cloud services. Departments are responsible for selecting technology that meets their needs, in line with security, resilience, procurement and value-for-money requirements. The Cloud First policy does not require use of Microsoft, and departments may procure competing products and services, including from other major cloud providers. The Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 secures preferential discounts for eligible public sector organisations but is not a direct route to market; departments must still run compliant procurement processes. Cabinet Office and DCMS continue to monitor the market, including the CMA’s investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem, and will consider its findings when published.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which central government departments are dependent on Microsoft software and cloud services to deliver core public services; and what steps they are taking to ensure departments retain the ability to procure competing products and services.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government does not maintain an aggregated assessment of departmental dependency on Microsoft software or cloud services. Departments are responsible for selecting technology that meets their needs, in line with security, resilience, procurement and value-for-money requirements. The Cloud First policy does not require use of Microsoft, and departments may procure competing products and services, including from other major cloud providers. The Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 secures preferential discounts for eligible public sector organisations but is not a direct route to market; departments must still run compliant procurement processes. Cabinet Office and DCMS continue to monitor the market, including the CMA’s investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem, and will consider its findings when published.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of annual central government expenditure on Microsoft products relates to software licensing, including Microsoft 365, Windows Server and SQL Server.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Information on the specific proportion of annual central government expenditure on Microsoft products allocated to software licensing is not held centrally.