Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 28 February 2023 (HL5643), what plans they have to reissue the 2019 Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse as binding statutory guidance on local councils and outsourced firms.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse, published in 2006, is already statutory and local councils and other duty bodies must have regard to it when carrying out their duty to keep relevant land clear of litter and refuse.
Separate guidance on enforcement was published in 2019 and attached to the Code of Practice but is not statutory.
At this stage, the Government has not yet made an assessment of how it can further support local authorities to tackle litter.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cybersecurity risks posed by prompt injection attacks to the processing by generative artificial intelligence of material provided from outside government, and whether any such attacks have been detected thus far.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Security is central to HMG's Generative AI Framework, which was published in January this year and sets out principles for using generative AI safely and responsibly. The risks posed by prompt injection attacks, including from material provided outside of government, have been assessed as part of this framework and are continually reviewed. The published Generative AI Framework for HMG specifically includes Prompt Injection attacks, alongside other AI specific cyber risks.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Digital Voice switchover in the first areas of rollout is proceeding in accordance with any undertakings by BT, particularly in terms of communication with regard to: adequate notice to customers, ability to opt out, alternatives to switchover offered and delivered, electric power availability, quality of connection, and clarity about equipment to be provided.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
BT are a signatory of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) charter, committing them to protect vulnerable users during the migration. BT, along with other communication providers, are not proactively switching customers to Digital Voice unless they have not used their landline for at least 12 months, though customers can choose to switch at any time. BT provide their customers with at least four weeks of notice, and ensure they have the necessary quality of connection prior to migration. BT does not provide electricity but provide in-home solutions that customers can use in the event of a power outage.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the recent publication of the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2023, whether they have considered the merits of legislative action such as 'Herbie's Law', to support a further decrease in the number of scientific procedures performed on living animals and to support the long-term phase-out of animal experiments in medical research by 2035.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) is leading on plans to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternatives to animal testing.
As yet, no assessment has been made of the potential merits of introducing Herbie’s Law.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the recent publication of the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2023, what plans they have to increase funding for the further development and uptake of human-specific methods that can replace the use of animals in medical research, such as computer modelling and organ-on-a-chip technology.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) is leading on plans to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternatives to animal testing.
As yet, no assessment has been made of the potential merits of introducing Herbie’s Law.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the UK's cloud hosting industry, in line with their aspiration to attain sovereign capability within the UK's cloud networks.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government is committed to ensuring the security and resilience and fostering diverse growth and innovation of UK data infrastructure, including cloud services.
The government recently designated data centres and cloud infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), recognising their fundamental importance to the UK and the digital economy. This will ensure that the UK is a safe place to develop and invest in data infrastructure.
The government continues to engage with the whole sector to enable and promote a level playing field, where UK cloud hosting providers have equity of access to the public sector cloud market.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure supplier diversity and resilience in the UK’s cloud infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government is committed to ensuring the security and resilience and fostering diverse growth and innovation of UK data infrastructure, including cloud services.
The government recently designated data centres and cloud infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), recognising their fundamental importance to the UK and the digital economy. This will ensure that the UK is a safe place to develop and invest in data infrastructure.
The government continues to engage with the whole sector to enable and promote a level playing field, where UK cloud hosting providers have equity of access to the public sector cloud market.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the UK’s cloud networks regain sovereign capability.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government is committed to ensuring the security and resilience and fostering diverse growth and innovation of UK data infrastructure, including cloud services.
The government recently designated data centres and cloud infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), recognising their fundamental importance to the UK and the digital economy. This will ensure that the UK is a safe place to develop and invest in data infrastructure.
The government continues to engage with the whole sector to enable and promote a level playing field, where UK cloud hosting providers have equity of access to the public sector cloud market.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the hosting of the National Data Library will be the subject of a strategic procurement in order to buy, make and sell more in Britain.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Data Library will transform the way the Government manages our national strategic data assets.
It will focus on maximising the value of data for the public good, on growing the economy and creating new jobs, and on delivering data-driven AI-powered public services.
Decisions on the design and implementation of the National Data Library will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the new arrangements and communications relating to the roll out of Digital Voice by BT; in particular, what assessment they have made of the clarity of communications to customers regarding opting in or out of the ability to retain their copper connection or move to fibre and how they should do this; whether any opt in or opt out is indefinite or for a limited period; and what are the costs to an individual customer of opting in or opting out.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The PSTN switch-off is a necessity, given that the network is past its serviceable life and is experiencing increasing failure rates year-on-year. Ultimately everyone will need to move off a copper connection for safety.
Currently, with the exception of a small number of customers who do not use or need a landline, BT has paused all non-voluntary migrations to Digital Voice. As agreed in the PSTN Charter for Communication Providers in December 2023, non-voluntary migrations will only be restarted once BT can guarantee that all possible steps have been taken to protect vulnerable users. Initially, only customers who are identified as not being vulnerable as a result of the PSTN switch-off, will be migrated. However, the migration of vulnerable customers will still happen at a later point with the appropriate support from BT.
The Department is currently working with BT, among other key stakeholders, to define any groups at a heightened risk during the migration, as per the PSTN charter. If a customer notifies BT of any additional needs, they will also be able to defer their migration.
Customers with vulnerabilities or additional needs who are choosing to move to Digital Voice will be provided with free support from BT, such as an engineer in-home installation, a battery backup unit and/or a hybrid landline-mobile handset.
Customers signing new contracts will be provided with a digital landline by default unless they are identified as a telecare user, in which case their migration will be deferred. Openreach engineers will not currently proceed with a migration during an in-home visit if a telecare device is found at a premises.
Customers should not expect to see any additional fees from migrating to VoIP or continuing to use their PSTN landlines.