Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that employers using artificial intelligence to monitor employees’ productivity and behaviour do so transparently and with appropriate safeguards for workers’ privacy and employment rights.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

AI presents significant opportunities to boost productivity, raise living standards and support growth.

That’s why we have launched the AI Economics Institute, bringing together economic research and policy expertise, to build the evidence base on how AI is affecting jobs, skills and productivity.

We are also currently consulting on Workplace Monitoring Technologies to help ensure that these technologies are used in a way that is fair and transparent while ensuring that rights and protections keep pace with technological change. The consultation closes 30 September.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen safeguards against increasingly autonomous artificial intelligence systems being used to conduct cyber attacks.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

I refer my Noble Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement of 7 September 2026 (HCWS314), which provides an overview of the risks posed by advancing AI capabilities, and the actions this Government is taking to improve cyber security in response.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) incorporate domestic content requirements, and (2) support UK textile manufacturers, with regard to public procurement contracts for Armed Forces uniforms.

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

The Ministry of Defence is considering how it can best take advantage of the greater flexibility under the Procurement Act 2023 for Defence and Security (except for non-sensitive goods) requirements to restrict competition and favour trusted supply chains, including, British-based suppliers.

Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 025 is intended to strengthen UK national security through public procurement by encouraging contracting authorities to consider supply chain resilience, sovereign capability and strategic dependency when procuring in critical sectors:

1. Steel
2. Shipbuilding
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
4. Energy Infrastructure

A Preliminary Market Engagement Notice was released in Dec 25 drawing suppliers’ attention to a pilot procurement for several lines of miliary clothing with the intention of establishing whether it is feasible to procure such items on a more “resilient” basis without compromising quality, price and delivery. This pilot is to gain insight from the market to help determine the future strategy, including challenges to overcome.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that employers using artificial intelligence in recruitment do not discriminate against women and older workers.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

Most AI systems are already regulated at the point of use by our existing expert regulators. For example, the ICO is currently consulting on their draft guidance about automated decision-making, including profiling.

Government has also previously published Responsible AI in Recruitment guidance which sets out good practice procuring and deploying AI systems for HR and recruitment. This guidance highlights the mechanisms that can be used to ensure the fair and trustworthy use of AI in recruitment.

The AI Economics Institute has also been set up to research and monitor AI’s economic and labour market impacts to inform cross-government policy responses and ensure AI delivers positive outcomes for the economy, jobs, and workers.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the expansion of artificial intelligence data centres in the UK is supported by sufficient energy and grid capacity.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises that growth in AI and data centres is increasing electricity demand and that grid connection delays are a major barrier to new capacity in the UK.

To address this, the Government is reforming the connections process to better support strategically important demand, including data centres. Working with DESNZ, Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator, reforms will reduce delays, limit speculative applications and prioritise viable projects, helping unlock capacity faster while maintaining security of supply. Through the AI Energy Council, we are exploring a resilient, sustainable and scalable solution.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support UK businesses to make greater use of artificial intelligence to develop new products and services.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government’s ambition is for the UK to be the fastest adopter of AI in the G7, helping to unlock growth and productivity across the economy, and support new opportunities for workers. We have committed over £200 million to help UK businesses adopt AI so they can realise this opportunity and are working with industry, including through the appointment of AI Champions in key Industrial Strategy sectors, Innovate UK’s BridgeAI programme which supports companies in areas of high growth potential which are currently low adopters of AI, and the AI Skills Boost initiative to upskill 10 million workers by 2030.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the growth of start-ups developing artificial intelligence and financial technology.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The UK is one of the best places in the world to start and grow an AI company: in 2025 we produced the second most AI start-ups globally and attracted the third highest levels of AI private investment. The financial services sector is adopting AI faster than the economy as a whole; 21% of firms, against 16% across all sectors. Through our Sovereign AI Fund, backed by up to £500 million, we invest directly in high-potential British start-ups, give them access to compute through the AI Research Resource, and provide grants through Innovate UK's £130 million Growth Catalyst.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the risk to the UK economy and national security from loss of access to frontier artificial intelligence models developed overseas.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is working to build domestic capability in AI where the UK has strengths; collaborate with trusted partners where this increases UK access and influence; and secure access to frontier capabilities where this is essential. We have taken significant steps to build sovereign capability through establishing the £500m Sovereign AI Fund to support UK AI companies; provision of compute via the AI Research Resource; establishing AI Growth Zones to build data centres; and the £1.1bn AI Hardware Plan to build out critical capabilities in key parts of the AI value chain.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the use of artificial intelligence and human-based laboratory models in the development of new medicines.

Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The Government is supporting the use of artificial intelligence and human-based laboratory models in medicines development through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy and wider work to accelerate AI adoption across the UK life sciences sector. This includes investment in AI-enabled tools, organ-on-a-chip systems, advanced cell and tissue models, and other human-relevant approaches to predict the safety and effectiveness of new medicines. We have invested £20 million in the Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub and up to £2 million through Innovate UK to support innovative technologies, including AI tools and human tissue models. The Government has also appointed an AI Champion for the life sciences sector and is taking forward the AI Opportunities Action Plan to support the development, adoption and responsible use of AI technologies, alongside work to support their validation and regulatory uptake through the UK Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the increasing use of artificial intelligence in the workplace does not reduce opportunities for young people to gain meaningful early-career experience.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is taking action now to shape the AI transition in a way that benefits workers and the economy:

• We are supporting over 400,000 young people obtaining TechFirst AI training, and we are developing apprenticeship schemes and Jobs Guarantee AI placements to ensure AI creates opportunities for the next generation.
• We have established the AI Economics Institute to provide world-leading research on AI’s economic impacts so government can respond to labour market shocks.
• Government has established the industry-led Early Careers Jobs Alliance to it map how entry-level work is changing in the Digital and Tech Sector, producing practical help for businesses on how to redesign roles while maintaining entry-level pathways to ensure AI provides opportunities for young people.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support universities in developing consistent approaches to the use of artificial intelligence in teaching and assessment.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department is committed to ensuring that artificial intelligence (AI) is not used to undermine high academic standards in higher education (HE). That is why, as set out in the Post-16 education and skills white paper, the department is supporting the Office for Students to assess the impact of AI. Including how students are using it in assessments, to ensure the integrity of higher education assessments and qualifications is not compromised.

Universities are independent and autonomous bodies responsible for decisions such as admissions, diversity of provision, course content, teaching and assessment. As such, they are responsible for designing and implementing their own policies and approaches to the use of AI.

In addition, the Office for Students, under Condition B4 of its regulatory framework, requires qualifications to remain credible reflections of students' knowledge and skills and can take regulatory action where providers fail to meet those requirements.

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.

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.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support businesses to adopt artificial intelligence in ways that increase productivity without reducing employment opportunities for lower-skilled workers.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is supporting businesses to adopt AI in ways that boost productivity and create opportunities for workers.

In June, we launched the Pro-Worker AI Adoption Prize, recognising organisations that use AI to raise productivity, equip workers with new capabilities and create jobs. Through AI Skills Boost, we are providing free AI training and will help 10 million workers gain essential AI skills by 2030. The Early Careers Jobs Alliance will support continued access to high-quality opportunities for young people.

We are also strengthening evidence on AI’s labour market impacts through the AI Economics Institute, monitoring effects on jobs and skills.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the use of artificial intelligence clinical transcription tools to reduce NHS waiting times and administrative burdens.

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

The Government is supporting the safe and effective use of artificial intelligence (AI) clinical transcription tools, also known as ambient voice technology (AVT), where they can reduce administrative burden and free up clinicians to spend more time with patients. NHS England has published national guidance to support National Health Service organisations to adopt AI-enabled AVT products safely, including expectations on clinical safety, information governance, data protection, transparency, and clinician review of outputs. NHS England is in the process of mobilising a programme to support the safe adoption of AVT.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that consumers using artificial intelligence for financial planning receive appropriate safeguards against inaccurate or unsuitable advice.

Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government wants consumers to be able to access high-quality support to make informed decisions about their finances and is committed to the safe adoption of AI in financial services, including financial guidance and advice. We support a principles-based, outcomes-focused approach to AI regulation enabling firms to innovate while maintaining high standards of consumer protection.

We recognise that general-purpose AI technology has already changed the nature of financial advice and guidance.

On 6 July, the Financial Conduct Authority published the Mills Review, which recommended a rapid FCA review on this issue.

On 14 July, the Government published the Financial Services AI Champions’ Adoption Plan, which included a high-priority recommendation that the FCA should consider the impacts of financial guidance and advice-like outputs through general purpose large language models (LLMs).

The Government are engaging with the FCA to determine next steps. This is an important piece of work that complements the Government’s broader ambition to make the UK a global leader in AI, leveraging our dual strengths in financial services and AI to drive growth, productivity and better, safe outcomes for consumers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen the cyber resilience of companies providing technology and digital services to the NHS.

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

As I set out in my answer of 3 July 2026 in response to the Noble Lord’s question HL8927, we have a dedicated workstream in the Cyber Improvement Programme that is focused on this particular risk, developing tools and processes to increase cyber assurance and resilience. In May 2025, we published the cyber security supply chain charter, designed to support suppliers and their customers in reducing the likelihood and impact of a cyber incident.

For ease of reference, HL8927 has been reproduced below:

In the past year we have invested £37.6 million across health and social care, building on the £338 million invested since 2017. Through our ambitious Cyber Improvement Programme, we are tackling the changing cyber risk head-on, expanding protection and services to better protect the health and care system.

The health and social care supply chain is large and complex. We have a dedicated workstream in the Cyber Improvement Programme that is focused on this particular risk, developing tools and processes to increase cyber assurance and resilience.

Published in May 2025, the cyber security supply chain charter is designed to support suppliers and their customers in reducing the likelihood and impact of a cyber incident. The eight statements contained within the charter are fundamental security measures that should be reasonably expected from suppliers to help secure their organisation.

In September 2024, the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Assessment Framework was implemented into the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) for large National Health Service organisations. This enables them to understand and manage their own cyber and information governance risks, while maintaining the high standards necessary to protect patients. Over 56,000 organisations completed a DSPT assessment for 2023/24. As of July 2024, 82% of NHS trusts, or 172 trusts, had met or exceeded the standard.

72% of adult social care providers are now compliant with the DSPT, and the Government funded Better Security, Better Care programme continues to support care providers to prioritise safety and security when handling the data of those drawing on care.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s upcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will help us address the evolving cyber threat to our supply chain. It will strengthen our defences and ensure that essential healthcare services are better protected.

Through the Cyber Operations division in NHS England, we are able to respond to the ever-changing threat landscape and monitor security threats to IT systems and networks. Cyber Operations provide a range of specialist services that help NHS organisations manage cyber risk, and these are delivered through a range of centrally funded products and services.

We work to ensure that patient data and information is stored in systems that are safe and secure. We do this by providing services, guidance, and support to health and care organisations.

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.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the adoption of artificial intelligence systems that can assist in the early detection of heart disease across the NHS.

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

The Government is exploring the role and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the earlier detection and diagnosis in a range of clinical specialties, including cardiovascular disease. This includes the safe and effective adoption of AI tools such as AI-assisted echocardiography, automated electrocardiogram interpretation, and digital stethoscope recordings through robust regulatory and assurance processes.

NHS England’s physiological sciences strategic framework clearly positions AI as a key enabler of community-based diagnostics, supporting faster and more standardised analysis of electrocardiograms and imaging tests.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the adoption across the NHS of artificial intelligence systems that can assist surgeons in planning and delivering precision surgery.

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

Our 10-Year Health Plan commits to expanding robotic assisted surgery (RAS) adoption over the next decade. In 2025, NHS England published the first national guidance for the implementation of RAS in the National Health Service, offering guidance on procurement, commissioning, implementation, training, and evaluation.

A national steering committee, with representation from across the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Office for Life Sciences, the NHS Supply Chain, the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, and clinical leads from a range of NHS provider trusts, is in place to support the RAS programme to deliver Government commitments. This committee also looks at innovation in robotic assisted surgery, including artificial intelligence.

The programme team engages regularly with suppliers of surgical robotic platforms to ensure adoption is aligned with the latest technological developments in RAS.

Decisions to offer RAS are agreed at an integrated care board and trust level, in line with local population need.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen the resilience of the UK financial system to cyberattacks enabled by increasingly capable artificial intelligence systems.

Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government recognises that increasingly capable artificial intelligence systems present both opportunities and risks for the financial sector. As noted in July’s Financial Stability Report, rapid progress in frontier AI capabilities presents a significant increase in the risks to financial stability from cyber and operational vulnerabilities.

HM Treasury works closely with the financial regulators, the National Cyber Security Centre and industry to strengthen the resilience of the UK financial system in the face of evolving cyber threats, including those enabled by AI. The authorities continue to work with firms through established resilience frameworks and industry bodies, including the Cross Market Operational Resilience Group (CMORG), which issued guidance for firms in June to help them assess their current capabilities and accelerate their response.

Frontier AI also has the potential to strengthen the financial sector’s cyber defences. To help firms share best practices on this front, the Bank of England has established a forum for systemically important UK financial institutions and Financial Market Infrastructure to share their experiences on the use of frontier AI for cyber defence.