Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings about artificial intelligence and copyright issues took place between Ministers and officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and representatives of the Tony Blair Institute between July 2024 and March 2025; and what were the dates and outcomes of those meetings.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ministers and officials have regular meetings with a range of stakeholders about AI and Copyright issues, including the Tony Blair Institute.
Ministerial meetings and engagements are published through quarterly transparency reports on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings have been held by ministers and officials at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport between July 2024 and February 2025 specifically addressing artificial intelligence and copyright issues; what was the distribution of these meetings between representatives of (1) creative industries, (2) artificial intelligence technology companies, and (3) meetings with both sectors represented, with a breakdown of these figures by month; and whether minutes of these meetings are publicly available.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to hearing a broad range of views to help inform its approach to copyright and AI.
Ministerial meetings are published according to normal transparency requirements.
The current best estimate of the number of meetings involving officials at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (including the Intellectual Property Office) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport between July 2024 and February 2025 is in the table below.
Month | Creative Industries | AI technology companies | Meetings with both sectors represented |
July ‘24 | 3 | 1 |
|
August ‘24 | 2 | 2 |
|
September ‘24 | 6 | 2 |
|
October ‘24 | 12 | 3 | 3 |
November ‘24 | 8 | 6 | 1 |
December ‘24 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
January ‘25 | 9 | 12 | 5 |
February ‘25 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
This includes meetings where officials from both departments attended.
The minutes of official level meetings are not routinely published
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to introduce specific legislation addressing copyright and artificial intelligence following their consultation; what consideration they have given to incorporating copyright protections for creative works within the Data (Use and Access) Bill rather than through separate legislation; and what impact assessment they have conducted on the potential effects on creative industries of the Data (Use and Access) Bill being enacted before establishing clear copyright frameworks for artificial intelligence.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government’s consultation on Copyright and AI closed on 25th February. It would be premature to legislate now: the Government is clear that no changes will be considered unless we are completely satisfied we are delivering a solution which works for creators. Our priority is to review the evidence from the consultation which will inform the Government response, including any legislative proposals.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Camrose on 12 April (HL3677), what practical steps data subjects can use to verify that their personal data are being processed (1) in accordance with any consent they have granted, and (2) only insofar as is "necessary" for the intended purposes; how they can exercise their right to object; and whether all of these processes will remain in place following the passage of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill as currently drafted.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Data controllers should inform individuals of how they are going to use their personal data and set this out in their privacy notice. Individuals have a number of rights under the UK’s data protection framework, including the rights to access their personal data, to object to its processing and to rectification and erasure. If an individual is concerned about the handling of their personal data, they can contact the ICO for advice or to make a complaint.
These rights, along with core data protection principles, will continue to apply under the reforms within the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they have implemented to address the challenges individuals may face in opting out of large language models accessing their personal data, particularly considering any complexity and difficulty of navigating existing protocols.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK’s existing Data Protection Framework requires organisations, including those developing AI technologies such as Large Language Models, to comply with UK data protection principles on lawfulness, fairness and transparency.
This includes requirements to make sure that processing personal data is ‘necessary’ for the intended purposes, carried out in a way that people would reasonably expect, and that data subjects are informed about processing and able to exercise their rights.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data to include fairness across the AI lifecycle.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to implement regulations mandating AI developers to incorporate web protocols aimed at preventing large language models from accessing personal data without obtaining prior consent.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK’s existing Data Protection Framework requires organisations, including those developing AI technologies such as Large Language Models, to comply with UK data protection principles on lawfulness, fairness and transparency.
This includes requirements to make sure that processing personal data is ‘necessary’ for the intended purposes, carried out in a way that people would reasonably expect, and that data subjects are informed about processing and able to exercise their rights.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data to include fairness across the AI lifecycle.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce measures to encourage companies using large language models to adopt easily accessible machine-readable opt-in mechanisms to obtain consent from data subjects.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK’s existing Data Protection Framework requires organisations, including those developing AI technologies such as Large Language Models, to comply with UK data protection principles on lawfulness, fairness and transparency.
This includes requirements to make sure that processing personal data is ‘necessary’ for the intended purposes, carried out in a way that people would reasonably expect, and that data subjects are informed about processing and able to exercise their rights.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data to include fairness across the AI lifecycle.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that existing web protocols designed to prevent unauthorised access to personal data are widely known and easily navigable for both individuals and organisations.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK’s existing Data Protection Framework requires organisations, including those developing AI technologies such as Large Language Models, to comply with UK data protection principles on lawfulness, fairness and transparency.
This includes requirements to make sure that processing personal data is ‘necessary’ for the intended purposes, carried out in a way that people would reasonably expect, and that data subjects are informed about processing and able to exercise their rights.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data to include fairness across the AI lifecycle.