Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen safeguards against artificial intelligence agents collaborating autonomously to conduct cyberattacks.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Rt Hon. Lord Taylor of Warwick to the Written Ministerial Statement of 12 October 2026 (HCWS357) (copied below), which provides an overview of the action the Government is taking to strengthen the UK’s resilience against the risks posed by increasingly powerful artificial intelligence.
“I am today updating the House on the action the Government is taking to strengthen the UK's resilience against the risks posed by increasingly powerful artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly capable and autonomous, creating new risks for individuals, businesses and national security. Deepfakes are being used to defraud people out of their money. Nudification tools are being used to humiliate and blackmail them. And AI enabled cyber attacks threaten our businesses and public institutions.
As I set out to the House on 7 September, frontier AI agents are increasingly able to act on their own. As these systems become more powerful, we must also prepare for the possibility of serious incidents in which they behave unexpectedly or act beyond their instructions.
The Government's first responsibility is to protect the British public. That requires the independent expertise to understand the risks posed by advanced AI, the capabilities to strengthen our defences and the ability to respond effectively when things go wrong. We cannot rely solely on the companies developing these technologies to assess and manage the risks they may pose.
I am therefore setting out further action to strengthen government cyber defences using frontier AI, establish a specialist capability to respond to major incidents involving agentic AI, and consider how the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill can better protect essential services against emerging threats.
As artificial intelligence becomes more capable, Britain must become more capable of protecting its people.
Independent testing of advanced AI
Britain is home to the world's leading AI Security Institute, bringing together more than 100 technical specialists to independently test the capabilities and risks of the most advanced AI systems.
Its work has established the UK as a world leader in AI security and demonstrated why independent scrutiny matters. As these systems become more powerful, it is essential that government retains the expertise to understand their risks for itself, rather than relying solely on the companies developing them.
So, over the last few weeks, we’ve been working closely with the labs and the US government - from His Majesty’s gathering of leading AI developers at Dumfries House in Scotland to discussions at the United Nations General Assembly in New York - to retain access for Britain’s AI Security Institute to the most powerful AI models before they’re released. And I can confirm that AISI scientists are now conducting rigorous evaluations of the latest generation of models, including Gemini 4 Argon to identify risks early, test safeguards, and help keep people safe.
Frontier AI hardening across government
Over the past months, experts in the Government Cyber Unit have been working across the public sector to test the use of frontier AI on real-world government cyber security problems. Two pilot programmes have used AI to find and address 1,352 vulnerabilities across 548 code repositories in 18 participating departments, alongside helping organisations detect advanced cyber threats. I can today announce an urgent extension of our frontier AI hardening programme, putting the most advanced AI technology to work strengthening defences across government and making our vital public services harder to attack. We will continue to work with government departments to address weaknesses in highest risk systems. This marks an important step towards a broader UK Government capability for use of AI to support cyber defence and resilience.
Agentic AI incident response
As AI agents are used more widely and with less human oversight, the risk of serious incidents in which they act beyond their instructions is growing. When such incidents occur, government must be able to establish quickly what has gone wrong, contain the risks and support those affected. I can confirm today that the Government is taking the first steps to meet this challenge. Working with the National Cyber Security Centre, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the AI Security Institute, we are developing our plans for how government should respond when AI agents cause serious harm, and we will build on this work in the weeks and months ahead.
Cyber Security and Resilience Bill
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill currently making its way through the House of Lords will do a great deal to protect our essential services, such as in health, energy and drinking water. Given how fast AI capabilities are advancing, we are considering how the regime can be strengthened so that AI cyber and loss of control risks are better understood and protected against. For instance, how near misses can be identified and reported, how AI-driven risk across organisations is reduced, and looking at how AI incidents can be properly understood, so lessons are shared and future harm prevented. We will consider proposals with parliamentarians, as well as technical experts and the operators who would need to deliver them, and continue to update Parliament during the passage of the Bill.
Verification
As AI systems become more capable, effective risk mitigation may increasingly depend on whether important claims about their development and operation can be independently verified. The UK has a rich history of hardware innovation, and I can confirm today that we will explore how that British expertise can help strengthen this central challenge in AI security.
The Prime Minister's AI Taskforce
These are just the first steps on a longer journey Britain needs to take to seize AI's potential as a driver for good growth and better public services, while at the same time being resilient to its potential risks. That wider scheme of work is being spearheaded by the AI Taskforce, reporting directly to the Prime Minister and chaired by Lord Vallance.
A shared responsibility
Government cannot do this alone. AI is increasing the speed, scale and efficiency of attacks, and every business has a responsibility to stay secure against them. The damage to brands, reputations and revenues means cyber security must be a matter for every boardroom in Britain.
The Security Minister will be outlining this Government’s approach to cyber security for the age of AI in the upcoming National Cyber Action Plan, with a national call to action for all organisations and businesses on this shared responsibility.
AI will be as consequential as the steam engine or internet. It could be more consequential than those technologies. It can help those who seek to do us harm, but it can also help keep us safe. This Government is determined that the UK stays at the forefront of AI innovation, so that we can seize the opportunities it brings and protect the public from its risks. I will keep the House updated.”
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the competitiveness of the United Kingdom as a destination for investment in artificial intelligence start-up companies.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK is one of the best destinations globally for investment in artificial intelligence start-up companies. In 2024 the UK’s AI sector generated £24 billion pounds worth of revenue while at the same time employing around 86,000 people. According to the Stanford AI Index, in 2025 the UK produced the second most AI startups globally, while also attracting the third highest levels of AI private investment. In April we also launched our Sovereign AI Fund, backed by up to £500 million, which will provide targeted Government support for high-potential UK start-ups and scaleups in areas of strategic national interest.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the reorganisation of government departments maintains momentum in the development and implementation of policies on AI safety and security.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government takes the risks from advanced AI extremely seriously, and recognises the importance of ensuring our approach keeps pace with a rapidly evolving technology.
That is why the AI Security Institute has moved to the Cabinet Office, bringing our world-leading capability on AI safety and security into the centre of Government. Its work continues uninterrupted.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that increasingly capable frontier artificial intelligence models are subject to independent safety evaluation before deployment.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) has built trusted, voluntary relationships with the world's leading AI labs. This collaborative approach lets us keep pace with a fast-moving technology and adapt as it evolves, and has allowed AISI to secure privileged access that has identified dozens of vulnerabilities that developers fixed before public release. AISI is in daily conversation with industry partners and works closely with allies and partners around the world on the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote greater professional responsibility among those developing artificial intelligence systems capable of operating with increasing autonomy.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government takes these risks extremely seriously. It is a good thing that the companies developing the most advanced AI systems are now talking openly about the risks as well as the opportunities. The UK’s AI Security Institute is in daily conversation with industry partners on AI security and is working closely with allies and partners around the world on the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems. Further detail is provided in Written Statement UIN HCWS314 'Artificial intelligence update'.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the AI Security Institute has access to frontier artificial intelligence models for pre-release safety testing.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) has built trusted, voluntary relationships with the world's leading AI labs. This collaboration lets us keep pace with a fast-moving technology and adapt as it evolves, and has allowed AISI to secure privileged access that has identified dozens of vulnerabilities that developers fixed before public release. AISI is in daily conversation with industry partners and works closely with allies and partners around the world on the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enable UK technology start-ups to compete more effectively for public sector procurement contracts.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to supporting start-ups, and small and medium-sized enterprises to compete for public contracts.
Recent changes to streamline and simplify the Social Value model, which include raising the threshold at which it applies to £1m, will directly benefit SMEs and start-ups wishing to bid for government contracts.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the production of official statistics.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the Permanent Secretary for the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for establishing a dedicated regulator for advanced artificial intelligence models.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The government is ensuring that the UK is ready for both the challenges and opportunities that AI will bring. We have taken important steps to ensure that most AI systems are already regulated at the point of use by our existing expert regulators. This is both through sector-specific regulations such as medicines regulation, and cross-cutting legal safeguards including data protection, competition, product safety, and equalities laws.
The government has been clear that we will legislate where needed but will do so based on evidence where gaps have been identified. The government will act where these laws are not enough to ensure AI security. We are exploring whether additional protections are needed.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence to design or develop biological agents that could pose a risk to public health.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK Biological Security Strategy sets out the vision that, by 2030, the UK is resilient to a spectrum of biological risks and a world leader in responsible innovation. This vision seeks to harness the transformative role that artificial intelligence will play across the life sciences whilst recognising the dual-use risk that such frontier technologies can pose.
That is why earlier this year, the Ministry of Defence announced an investment of £115 million to raise the UK’s defences against the threats from AI, including using AI to improve our biological security and mitigate risks posed by autonomous AI agents. This is alongside investment of over £1.83 billion to establish a Network of National Biosecurity Centres, including £1 billion in Weybridge, £580 million in Dstl Porton Down, and £250 million over this Parliament in Harwell to bolster defences against biological incidents, accidents and attacks.
Through the AI Security Institute, HMG works proactively with frontier laboratories to test the capability of models and advise them on where safeguards can, and should, be strengthened to prevent risks emerging.