Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor the accuracy and effectiveness of AI systems used by the Civil Service.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Responsibility for monitoring the AI systems built or procured for use by the civil service lies with the Department that procures the system.

DSIT supports departments in their adoption of AI systems through guidance like the AI Playbook for Government which provided advice on how to govern AI systems, including risk mitigation, AI quality assurance and operational monitoring. Within DSIT, teams like the Incubator for AI regularly publish evaluations of their tools on ai.gov.uk.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what cybersecurity safeguards and oversight mechanisms are in place to protect online data and systems during regulatory relaxation periods under the UK’s 'AI sandbox' testing framework.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The AI Growth Lab will pilot responsible AI innovations in supervised settings and allow for targeted regulatory modifications. This could accelerate adoption in key sectors across the economy such as healthcare, transport and professional services.

The call for evidence invites views on which sectors could benefit most from access to the Lab as well as the safeguards required to ensure safety and public trust.

Precise controls would be tailored to the AI product or service being sandboxed. The Lab would work in partnership with existing regulators. Statutory “red lines” (e.g., fundamental rights, workers’ rights, consumer safety) could not be modified.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure equitable access to hospice and palliative care services across the regions of England.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.  The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard. The dashboard helps commissioners to understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.

The Department and NHS England are currently working at pace to develop plans on how best to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

Additionally, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Department has invested £3 million in a Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care. This unit is building the evidence base on palliative care and end of life care, with a specific focus on inequalities.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

We are also committing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure hospices are adequately funded.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.  The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard. The dashboard helps commissioners to understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.

The Department and NHS England are currently working at pace to develop plans on how best to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

Additionally, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Department has invested £3 million in a Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care. This unit is building the evidence base on palliative care and end of life care, with a specific focus on inequalities.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

We are also committing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that asset managers issuing tokenised investment funds implement robust cybersecurity measures.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy sets out a comprehensive ten-year plan to deliver growth and attract investment. Championing innovation is a key priority within this strategy, and the Government is working closely with industry stakeholders and regulators to remove barriers and unlock opportunities presented by new technologies.

Using distributed ledger technology to tokenise funds could support financial market efficiency by enabling more efficient, real-time data sharing which could lower operational costs and enhance resilience.

The Government has published its Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy, which sets out the key steps the UK has to take to digitalise its financial markets, including through the tokenisation of assets. The Government is taking forward various measures in this space, in particular the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS). The DSS provides a bespoke regulatory framework that enables firms to test, scale and roll out the tokenisation of securities.

Cyber security is a top priority for the Government, and HM Treasury works with the financial authorities, industry and with international partners to strengthen the financial sector’s resilience to threats and hazards of all origins, including cyber risks. This includes the Financial Conduct Authority, whose cyber security requirements mandate firms to have robust governance, effective systems and controls, and comprehensive incident management and business continuity plans.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enforce the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 to prevent anti-competitive practices by major digital platforms.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As the UK’s independent competition authority, the Competition and Markets Authority is responsible for enforcing competition law. Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and take appropriate action if it finds that businesses are behaving anti-competitively. This includes bespoke powers to address the practices of large technology firms that have substantial and entrenched market power.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the fintech sector, following reports that British firms secured half of the top 10 European fintech investment deals in the third quarter of 2025.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The UK is a world leader in Fintech, and attracted attracted $3.6 billion of investment in 2024, second only to the US.

The Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy set out a comprehensive package of reforms to preserve the UK’s leadership in this area. Measures include streamlining the regulatory environment, initiatives to support UK Fintechs to scale up, and steps to accelerate progress in Open Finance and Smart Data.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Alan Turing Institute's new cyber-defence programme does not impact funding of its non-defence AI research.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

In July, the then DSIT Secretary of State wrote to the Chair of the Alan Turing Institute’s (ATI) Board of Trustees proposing a set of changes to the organisation that would shift its focus to national security, defence and sovereign capability. These reforms will build on the institute’s existing strengths and increase its capacity to deliver real value for the British public.

Under its Turing 2.0 strategy, ‘Defence and National Security’ is one of the institute’s three grand challenges, with the others being ‘Transformation of Health’ and ‘Environment and Sustainability’. The Turing’s recently announced Critical National Infrastructure mission has been launched within that framework.

Government welcomes the ATI Chair’s commitment to doubling down on defence, national security, and sovereign capability, and we will continue working closely with the institute moving forward.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the NHS provides sufficient and timely palliative care services for terminally ill patients, including through increasing staff, beds and funding.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative care and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

NHS England has also developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place.

Whilst the majority of these services are provided by National Health Service staff, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26.  I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, adjusted for inflation, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive.  This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

In the long-term, the Government and the NHS will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.

We will publish a new workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it, including at the end of life.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support access to training in artificial intelligence tools for employees of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government is supporting workforce readiness for AI through a range of initiatives. The new AI Skills Hub, developed by Innovate UK and PwC, provides streamlined access to digital training. We are also partnering with 11 major companies to train 7.5 million UK workers in essential AI skills by 2030. This will help tackle critical skills gaps and improve workforce readiness, including amongst SMEs.

Confidence in the responsible use of AI systems is central to AI adoption. To build confidence among SMEs, DSIT previously published AI Management Essentials to help SMEs implement responsible AI governance practices. We are currently revising the guidance to ensure it can effectively meet industry need.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to expand training, support and retention initiatives for healthcare professionals delivering palliative and end-of-life care.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it, including in palliative care and end of life care.

NHS staff told us through the 10-Year Health Plan engagement that they are crying out for change. This 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out how we will deliver that change by making sure that staff are better treated, have better training, more fulfilling roles, and hope for the future.

To ensure the health and social care workforce is equipped and well supported to deliver personalised care to people at the end of life, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, host the End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme, which includes nine modules on improving care for people at the end of life.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Ministry of Defence contractors that use alternative finance providers, including fintech lenders, meet procurement and financial resilience requirements.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) fully assess the financial status of legal entities before any new contract is awarded. Bidders must be able to demonstrate both economic and financial capacity requirements. These requirements including assets and liabilities are related and proportionate to the subject matter of the contract and are limited to determining that the bidder has the financial capacity to perform the contract.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen data privacy and cybersecurity standards for artificial intelligence tools used in financial services.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The UK’s data protection legislation applies to companies providing services to people in the UK, if they are processing personal data. The legislation is independently regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

As noted in the Bank of England and FCA’s 2024 strategic approach to AI updates, UK data requirements also apply to financial services firms, including in their use of AI.

Cyber security is a top priority for the Government, and HM Treasury works with the financial authorities, the national technical authorities, industry and international partners to strengthen the financial sector’s resilience to threats and hazards of all origins, including cyber risks.

The financial authorities deploy a range of tools to ensure firms are resilient to the wide range of risks that they could face. This includes the regulators’ operational resilience policy, threat-led penetration testing, and sector-wide cyber stress testing. Technical advice is also provided by the National Cyber Security Centre and the National Protective Security Authority.

HM Treasury collaborates closely with financial regulators and international partners to address AI and cybersecurity challenges. For instance, we worked alongside G7 counterparts through the Cyber Expert Group to publish a joint statement highlighting both the risks and opportunities on AI and cybersecurity.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote fintech investment and skills development in regions outside London.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The UK has a world-leading Fintech sector throughout the UK.

The Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy identified Fintech as a priority growth opportunity, and set out measures to support investment in the sector, including welcoming the City of London Corporation and the British Business Bank facilitating greater access to finance and commercial opportunities for fast-growing Fintech firms across the UK.

This is in addition to wider action to boost investment throughout the UK, which includes the recent Spending Review settlement which increased the British Business Bank’s total financial capacity to £25.6 billion, enabling the Bank to back tens of billions of pounds’ worth of additional lending and investment to SMEs and scale-ups.

In the Strategy, the government has also committed to supporting the development of an industry-led Skills Compact for financial services and commissioned the Financial Services Skills Commission to produce a report on how the skills system can drive growth and productivity in financial services by supporting effective adoption of AI and other disruptive technologies. Both projects are UK-wide in scope.