Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the environmental and sustainability impact, including energy demands, of the Anthropic Claude AI model used for the Gov.uk chat service.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government Digital Service recognises the importance of environmental considerations in the use of AI and we are committed to using this technology responsibly. We are working in line with the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which highlights the importance of understanding and managing the environmental impact of AI systems.

Environmental considerations have been reviewed under the Environmental Principles Policy Statement (EPPS), with negligible anticipated impact. EPPS principles have been considered, including resource efficiency and sustainability of digital infrastructure.

Model selection decisions are based on performance, security, data protection, cost, and alignment with government standards. Where possible, we use smaller and more efficient models to improve sustainability, including in our use of the Claude models within GOV.UK Chat.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they were aware that Anthropic downloaded over 7 million pirated books between 2021 and 2023 to train its Claude AI model when selecting Anthropic as the supplier for the GOV.UK chat service; and whether they conducted a risk assessment for the use of a model developed using unlawfully accessed copyright-protected works.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government Digital Service recognises the importance of ethical, legal, and data protection considerations in the use of large language models.

A range of large language models from multiple suppliers have been considered in developing GOV.UK Chat. GOV.UK Chat is a product in active development that currently accesses Anthropic models through an existing agreement with Amazon Web Services, enabling the Government Digital Service to test a range of models from different suppliers. Risk assessments have been undertaken in accordance with government standards, including consideration of ethical, legal, and data protection risks relevant to the models tested.

GOV.UK Chat is being developed entirely within the Government Digital Service by a multidisciplinary team of civil servants. The Government continues to engage with UK-based AI developers and remains open to collaboration where this supports innovation and the delivery of public services.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2024, published on 23 October, what steps they are taking to end procedures which cause severe suffering to animals.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is committed to the development of non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy by the end of this year to support the development, validation and uptake of alternatives to animal testing. Where animal procedures are required to deliver benefits to people, animals or the environment because there is no non-animal alternative, these are subject to strict, robust regulation.

All applications to test on animals must conform with all legal requirements set out in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This includes applying the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement): the replacement of animals with alternatives; the reduction of the number of animals used to the minimum possible; and the refinement of any techniques to reduce the harm suffered by the animals to the minimum. The Home Office only allows the use of animals if it can be demonstrated that the 3Rs have been fully applied. All licence holders have a responsibility to fully implement the 3Rs and demonstrate this requirement at audit.

Licence holders are also required to complete retrospective assessments for licences if the protocols in the studies are severe. Retrospective assessments must consider whether any lessons can be learned from the programme of work which may contribute to the further implementation of the principles of the 3Rs.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2024, published on 23 October, what steps they are taking to meet their manifesto commitment to phase out animal experimentation.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Labour Manifesto commits to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal.

The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year which will outline the steps we will take to meet this manifesto commitment.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish the applications reviewed by the Debt and Fraud Information Sharing Review Board for projects 341 and 476, and to publish any end-of-pilot report for project 341.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Digital Economy Act (DEA) 2017 Secretariat has no plans to publish application documents (e.g. pilot business cases, data protection impact assessments or memorandums of understanding) in relation to projects 341 and 476.

It is the voluntary responsibility of participating pilot organisations to publish any documentation in relation to applications. This is set out in paragraph 146 in the Code of Practice (CoP) for public authorities disclosing information under Chapters 1, 3 and 4 (Public Service Delivery, Debt and Fraud) of Part 5 of the DEA 2017.

On the publication of an end-of-pilot report on project 341, the DEA Secretariat publishes summary minutes from each Review Board meeting, which references organisational-led end-of-pilot reports. The decision to publish these reports are the responsibility of the relevant organisation.