Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to combat the impact of AI-driven disinformation on voters in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Security in democratic processes is paramount, and the Government has systems in place to ensure the integrity of its elections.
To mitigate this risk, the Joint Election Security & Preparedness Unit (JESP) coordinates cross-government efforts across government departments, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the devolved governments, and the Electoral Commission. During election periods, JESP activates an Election Cell during electoral periods to monitor and respond to issues, including mis and disinformation as they emerge.
The Online Safety Act also requires platforms to tackle illegal mis- and disinformation, including AI-generated content and foreign interference.
Furthermore, JESP is also horizon scanning for new and emerging threats to the election security landscape, consulting experts across industry and academia to build our information base, build capabilities to get ahead of emerging risks and ensure that the Government is collectively prepared to deliver future elections in a safe and secure environment.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to allow robotic food delivery units on a national level.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government has committed to using powers in the Regulating for Growth Bill to enable trials of pavement robots. These trials will enable controlled real-world testing that accelerates learning on how robots can safely support people, places and public services.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure AI is implemented appropriately within, and is transparently used by, the Home Office.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is committed to the safe, effective and ethical use of AI. AI tools are subject to ongoing evaluation and assurance with scrutiny proportionate to their potential impact and risk. Staff are provided with training and guidance to help them use AI tools safely, securely and effectively.
Home Office staff remain accountable for decisions and work supported by AI, and appropriate human oversight must be maintained throughout its use.
The Home Office is committed to publishing records on the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard Hub and has a process in place for projects to complete records.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - 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 potential risks to food supply chains arising from cyber-attacks on large-scale remote temperature-monitoring systems used in food refrigeration and storage.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre and our own industry engagement forums to highlight cyber risks and raise resilience with key providers. This includes working on a range of policy approaches to ensure that significant parts of the wider food sector are aware of cyber security concepts and are taking action to understand and mitigate risks.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of training AI technology to detect diseases through scent molecule receptors.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to explore the potential of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to improve health outcomes and support earlier diagnosis. We will consider promising innovations as the evidence develops, ensuring they are safe, effective and appropriate for use in health and care.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent online paid services from being accessed by autonomous AI agents without payment.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises concerns about autonomous AI agents accessing paid online services without authorisation or payment Existing law provides protections for online content and services. Access can be governed by contractual terms, while use of copyright-protected works generally requires a licence or other permission from rightsholder, unless an exception applies.
The Government is reviewing mechanisms available to creators to control their works online, including technical standards and solutions. We will publish in spring 2027.
More broadly, the Government is taking significant action to strengthen protections against AI-agent incidents. This includes a £40 million investment into a new National Agentic Security Unit to develop new capabilities to detect, investigate and respond to agentic AI incidents. The National Cyber Security Centre has also published guidance for organisations on how to deploy agentic AI systems securely.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure individual artists have rights over deciding whether their work can be used to train AI models.
Answered by Baroness Mackenzie of Sherwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government wants all creators, including individual creators, to have greater control over how their work is used by AI developers.
In March 2026, we committed to publishing a review of the mechanisms available for creators to control their works online. This includes standards, technical solutions and best practice on input transparency. This review will inform whether there is an appropriate role for government.
Alongside this, we have established a working group on independent and smaller creators to explore how government can support their ability to license content. This will help us better understand the challenges they face in the evolving AI licensing market.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce operating costs for domestic AI research businesses.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is supporting UK AI research businesses to reduce their costs. The AI Research Resource provides eligible UK small and medium-sized enterprises and researchers with free specialist AI compute for research projects.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, provides funding to enable businesses to undertake high-risk research and development and access compute, alongside shared datasets and evaluation assets that reduce duplication and data-development costs. Through the Catapult Network and wider ecosystem partners, businesses can also access specialist expertise, testing, assurance and real-world environments, which can reduce the cost of AI development and deployment and accelerate routes to market.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the barriers to entry and ensure innovation in the contactless payment industry.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting competition and innovation in the payments sector, including contactless payments.
The National Payments Vision sets out the Government’s ambition for a trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem, delivered on next-generation technology, where consumers and businesses have a choice of payment methods to meet their needs.
The Government is taking steps to implement this vision. This includes work to modernise payment services regulation to deliver a clear, predictable and proportionate framework that supports competition and innovation, including by adapting regulation to new developments in payments.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of regulation ensuring accuracy of food advertisement that has been created by AI.
Answered by Baroness Mackenzie of Sherwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the independent regulator responsible for regulating advertising in the UK, through codes set by the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP).
ASA rules apply regardless of how content is generated or edited, meaning the use of AI in advertising is captured within their existing rules. The Codes include specific rules intended to protect consumers from misleading marketing communications; if paid-for advertising includes the omission, exaggeration, or ambiguous presentation of information, it may be considered misleading.