Lord Kempsell

The filing of an application for a super-injunction on behalf of His Majesty’s Government is recognised as a truly exceptional measure and would be justified only by the most compelling evidence.

As set out in the 2025 Resilience Action Plan, the Emergency Alerts system is one of many public warning and informing capabilities that the UK Government, Devolved Governments and Category 1 responders have at their disposal. It is an integral part of keeping the public safe as it allows for quick sharing of life-saving information.

Since the launch of Emergency Alerts in 2023, the system has been activated five times, in conjunction with other local warning methods, during emergencies to minimise risk to life.

On Sunday 7th September at around 3pm tens of millions of phones across the country received the test message, marking the largest simultaneous public communications event since the Second World War.

The UK Government will continue to ensure that Emergency Alerts capability is maintained and it is expected that the funding of the system will continue through routine departmental spend.

I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office on 10 July, Official Report, PQ HC64454.

PQ 64454 Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to establish an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. 64454

Minister Oppong-Asare response, published 10 July: Deputy Prime Ministers are rightly supported in their role to deliver the additional responsibilities.

The Deputy Prime Minister’s responsibilities are set out on Gov.uk and any such plans would be set out in the usual way.

As is longstanding practice under successive administrations, the Government does not publish the exercises that it undertakes for terrorist attacks or other civil contingencies unless requested to by inquiries or where it would serve to make the public better prepared.

The national exercise for 2025 will be a pandemic preparedness exercise. It will aim to test our ability to respond to a pandemic arising from a novel infectious disease, involving all regions and nations of the UK and thousands of participants.

The publicly available UK Resilience Academy Lessons Digest synthesises and shares lessons learned from selected large-scale exercises and emergency responses.

A breakdown of how many special advisers are in post by department is available in the Annual Report on Special Advisers is attached. Between July 2024 and June 2025, 19 special advisers left their posts.

Cabinet Office maintains records and oversight of formally established arm’s-length bodies (ALBs). No ALBs have been formally established since 4 July 2024. Individual departments are responsible for any proposals to open or close ALBs. The government has already closed or announced the closure of: Education and Skills Funding Agency, Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), NHS England, Valuation Office Agency and the Office of Place.

On 6 April, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced a full review of all ALBs, with a view to close, merge or bring functions back into departments if its continued existence cannot be justified. This review aims to reduce duplication, drive efficiency, and ensure democratic accountability for policy decisions that affect the British public. It includes proposed new ALBs and the outcomes will be announced in due course.

The UK has consistently been clear on the continued need for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. This government has raised this issue with China several times, including at the UK-China Strategic Dialogue earlier this year.

The US is the largest single country partner for both UK exports and imports into the UK.

The Economic Prosperity Deal announced on 8 May will reduce tariffs for UK exporters in critical sectors.

For the car industry, we have negotiated a 100k quota that reduces tariffs from 27.5% to 10%. We’re pleased that as a result of our agreement with the US, UK steel will not be subject to additional 50% tariffs. We will continue to work with the US to implement our agreement, which will see the US tariffs on steel brought back down to MFN level. We have agreed new reciprocal market access on beef – with UK farmers given a guaranteed quota for 13,000 metric tonnes of beef exports at a very low tariff rate, British farmers now have a major opportunity to sell their high-quality British beef to a market of over 300 million people.

We continue to have productive discussions with the US on securing a wider economic deal, including through a call between the Prime Minister and President Trump on 18 April. The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has also been engaging with the US Administration including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to discuss this.

Last October, the Government launched a consultation on how we can make the UK the most attractive country for business investment and drive long-term growth across the UK through targeted measures to support eight growth-driving sectors.

The consultation received more than 27,000 answers, from over 3,000 organisations and individuals. Detailed analysis and engagement are being conducted to distil themes, develop policy interventions, and identify opportunities to take a partnership approach to tackling barriers. Advice is also being provided by the new Industrial Strategy Advisory Council.

The full Industrial Strategy alongside Sector Plans for the growth-driving sectors, will be published alongside the multi-year Spending Review, as planned.

The UK-US relationship is already very strong, with trade of around £300 billion, and shared investment of over £1.2 trillion at the end of 2023. The Prime Minister and President Trump met on 27 February and agreed to deepen this relationship and to work together on a trade deal focused on tech. The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has also been engaging with the US Administration including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, to make the case for stronger UK-US trade that benefits both our countries.

Fusion supports the Government’s Plan for Change and its Missions to Kickstart Economic Growth – through innovation, highly skilled jobs, and tech transfer to adjacent sectors, and make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower.

The Government has announced a record £410m for fusion R&D to fund world leading new facilities, cutting edge research, support for the UK’s thriving industry and skill provision across the UK.

The Government is supporting rapid development of the fusion energy sector, investing in cutting-edge research capabilities and facilities, and implementing a proportionate regulatory framework to cement the UK as a global hub for fusion investment and commercialisation.

Implementing a long-term solution for plutonium is essential to dealing with the UK’s nuclear legacy and leaving the environment safer for future generations.

The material in its current form presents a significant and costly burden. DESNZ and NDA has considered re-use options and found that immobilisation is more likely to put the material into a safe, stable and disposable form soonest and with greatest delivery confidence.

All current and planned UK reactors use uranium fuel. We will continue to take wider strategic factors and technologies into account in making the final investment decision.

Gain of function research changes the genetic material of a living organism to alter the way that organism behaves. This research sometimes takes place on pathogens to helps us to prevent and respond to future pandemics. The UK has a set of regulations in place to safely unlock the benefits of this research on pathogens whilst protecting from misuse. The Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations ensure the safety of the people doing the research and the environment whilst the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 regulates the possession and use of specific pathogens and toxins. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these regulations, including through ongoing engagement with the EngBio Responsible Innovation Advisory Panel.

Expanding the UK’s compute capability is essential for the development and adoption of AI, scientific research, and improving public services. DSIT and UKRI are taking forward the development of the AI Research Resource, a network of clusters, currently consisting of Isambard-AI, in Bristol, and Dawn, in Cambridge, which will be fully operational by the summer. When this capacity is live, it will increase the UK’s existing public compute capacity by thirty times.

The government set out the further steps it will take to scale-up our compute infrastructure in response to the AI Opportunities Action Plan. This includes commitments to expand the AI Research Resource (AIRR) a further 20x by 2030, and to publish a long-term compute strategy. The government is developing this strategy and recognises the importance of large-scale scientific computing.

The Government Digital Service leads on developing our digital experts, and is taking steps to upskill public sector workers in artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance productivity. This includes the AI Accelerator Programme which, as one of the five Kick Starters in the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, will upskill >50 data scientists to become machine learning engineers. Furthermore, following a successful AI pilot with second-year Digital Fast Streamers, the Government Digital Service is introducing AI to the broader digital Fast Stream curriculum. Finally, the Civil Service Learning platform offers over 250 hours of AI learning, and is available to all civil servants.

The incubator for AI, within GDS, is also building a suite of productivity tools for public servants, nicknamed 'Humphrey' including meeting transcription and consultation analysis.

The UK makes a significant contribution to human space exploration via investment through the European Space Agency (ESA). Rosemary Coogan is now training with NASA in Houston ahead of a long-term mission to the International Space Station. John McFall and Meganne Christian, who are both in the ESA astronaut reserve, are currently training at the European Astronaut Centre in Germany to prepare them for future space missions. These missions are not yet identified.

The UK Space Agency is also working with Axiom Space to explore the potential for a first of-a-kind commercially sponsored UK astronaut mission to the ISS. We have not made a specific estimate of when a British mission will visit the moon or Mars.

The AI opportunities Action Plan has been published and in response, the government has accepted all 50 recommendations. The digital centre within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has been established to bring together central digital, data, technology and AI teams and act as a catalyst for technology adoption and service transformation across government.

The digital centre is leading the response to public sector AI adoption and working across departments to drive the use of AI within government, and the wider public sector, to improve citizens’ lives and make government more efficient. This includes adopting a ‘scan, pilot, scale’ approach to rolling out AI tools, building on the work of the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence.