Asked by: Lord Sarfraz (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the humanitarian and environmental impacts of plastic waste exports on communities in destination countries, and what action they are taking to mitigate those impacts.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have made no assessment of the impacts of plastic waste exports on communities in destination countries. Overseas facilities receiving UK waste must be operated in accordance with human health and environmental protection standards that are broadly equivalent to those established in UK legislation.
We work with the UK regulators to ensure the proper enforcement of our rules and regulations.
Asked by: Lord Sarfraz (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of sexual violence towards Rohingya women and girls in Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK has been actively engaged in addressing the humanitarian situation in Cox's Bazar and closely monitoring levels of need and insecurity. We regularly engage with the Interim Government in Bangladesh about security in Rohingya refugee camps and request them to take action to improve the protection environment. In June, during Chief Adviser Yunus' visit to the UK, the then Minister for the Indo-Pacific discussed the situation of Rohingya refugees. UK funding (over £420 million since 2017) is providing community-based protection services for women and children.
Asked by: Lord Sarfraz (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the regional economic impact of generative artificial intelligence, particularly outside London and the South East.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the transformative economic potential of generative AI in the UK. While London and the South-East currently generate around 86% of UK AI Revenue, other regions, such as Manchester, Cambridge, and Edinburgh, are emerging as key innovation hubs. This includes £750 million of investment recently announced for the building of a new AI supercomputer, hosted at the University of Edinburgh.
Additionally, as HMG’s AIRR+ compute network can be accessed remotely, researchers across the country are now able to make use of the UK’s world-class sovereign compute, in order to train new cutting-edge AI models.
The North and South-West have the highest levels of business AI adoption outside of the greater South-East, suggesting industry in UK is harnessing the benefits of AI technology into their business practices.