Open Artificial Intelligence Service

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

The Alan Turing Institute is of course an independent institution. In 2023, a quinquennial review determined that it needed significant changes, and those changes have been taking place. They will be ongoing and there is indeed a plan to make sure that the institute is able to deliver AI for missions that are important for the Government, whether that is defence, which has been mentioned, or climate and healthcare. I am confident that the institute will get to a place where it is much more able to have the engineering expertise to deliver products that will be of value.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, to build on the excellent question of my noble friend Lord Holmes, I was concerned this morning to be presented with some research to the effect that Britons are among the most nervous about AI of any population. To what does the Minister attribute this falling off in our level of confidence about AI, and what steps do the Government envisage taking to address it going forward?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I am tempted to refer back to surveys I used to see when I worked in a global company, which always came out worse for the UK than anywhere else in the world. But this is a very real issue, and there are major concerns about some aspects of AI. My worry is that we do not concentrate enough on the benefits and articulate those. We have work to do to make it clear that this is going to benefit people and is not just something to worry about; it is going to be beneficial right across the sectors, including in health. We have work to do to get that message out and to ensure that it is understood and believed.

Civil Service: Artificial Intelligence Productivity Gains

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Viscount Camrose]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of productivity gains across the Civil Service resulting from the deployment of artificial intelligence; and how they are measuring and evaluating these gains.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and, in so doing, draw noble Lords’ attention to my technology interests as set out in the register.

[The Minister of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (Lord Vallance of Balham) (Lab)]

The Government have assessed the potential productivity gains from AI across the Civil Service, identifying which solutions are most effective and that will scale. We conducted the world’s largest trial of general-purpose AI tools, such as Copilot, to measure their impact and benefit. These evaluations inform which technologies deliver which outcomes and will enable us to prioritise adoption. Our assessment indicates significant economic benefits from widespread, well-targeted AI deployment across His Majesty’s Government.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, in May, the Government announced a rightly ambitious plan to drive tens of billions of pounds per year in Civil Service productivity savings through AI. In June, they estimated that use of AI tools was saving civil servants 26 minutes a day. Even if that is true, the Minister will agree that time savings, however welcome, do not equate to productivity. Now that the Government have spent £573 million on AI tools and consulting for the Civil Service, how will they measure productivity gains to rapidly build on successes and shut down failures?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

The figure of £573 million is, of course, forward spend, so that is not what has been spent; it is a commitment over the next few years. It is important that we measure this. Guidance on how to measure the impact of AI tools was issued last year; there is a rigorous process for doing that. On the 26 minutes that has been picked up by the Copilot study, it is of course a general AI tool. Much greater savings come with specific uses in specific areas, which will not be general across the Civil Service.

The noble Lord is quite right to point out that time saving is not productivity, but what we do know from studies elsewhere and across business is that, when you get those time savings, about half of it goes on core tasks, about a quarter is on other strategic and creative work and about 25% goes on enhanced well-being. That is what we might expect as a result. There is a lot to do to make sure that we implement this properly across the Civil Service.

Artificial Intelligence: Legislation

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for that question. I gave quite an extensive Answer on water and AI last week. There are specific requirements for places that could host the new AI growth zones, including for the power supply but also, importantly, the ability to look at how water is used, the use of technologies to reduce water use, including recirculation and the types of chips that allow you to generate less heat during processing, and an obligation to work with water companies to come up with a clear, credible plan.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, on 3 July, over 150 major EU businesses wrote to the European Commission seeking a pause on the rollout of the EU’s AI Act. They objected, among other things, to its rigidity, complexity, overregulation and threat to competitiveness. What do the Government make of these objections? Do they remain as keen as they were in opposition on close alignment with the EU on AI regulation?

Data Centres: Energy and Water Consumption

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

The latest data suggests that it is about 2.5% of total energy consumption. That will increase, and is being taken into account. It is clearly important that, as we move to more renewable sources of energy and come off reliance on gas, we have an increased supply. It is also why the Government announced that Rolls Royce will be the first partner for small modular reactors, which will be an important part of our energy system going forward.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, building on the question from the noble Baroness, now that the Government have renamed the AI Safety Institute as the AI Security Institute, can the Minister confirm that its expanded role will indeed include energy security? If so, what view does it take of the resilience of UK- hosted AI systems of exposure to high energy costs and intermittent energy sources?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

The Government believe that the best way to deliver price reductions for clean power is the clean power 2030 mission, so that the marginal price of electricity is set by gas less and less often. The increase in renewables will allow that, plus the advent of small modular reactors. The AI Security Institute is not the place to consider energy security; that is the AI Energy Council. Its sustainability working group is considering whether renewable and low-carbon energy solutions should be adopted, and where; how innovation in AI hardware and chip design can improve energy efficiency; whether new metrics, alongside the PUE—power usage efficiency—metric should be introduced; and the impact of new energy solutions such as small modular reactors. That speaks to the issue of resilience.

ARIA: Scoping Our Planet Programme

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I do not carry that figure in my head. I can tell my noble friend that ARIA has spent 300 hours over the past few months dealing with requests under the Environmental Information Regulations alone, so he can imagine the scale of requests that can come through other things. I am sure the cost of providing information requests to public bodies has been very high.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, when Ilan Gur recently and sadly announced that he intended to step down as CEO of ARIA, he said that his role was always intended to be time-bound. That being the case, was a succession plan in place to appoint his replacement? Once a new CEO is appointed, will the Government strain every sinew to make sure that a succession plan is in place for their successor?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

It has been known for a little while that Ilan Gur would return to the US, where his family is now back. I know, because I was on the board of ARIA for a period before I took up this post, that there were lots of discussions around succession planning. I am sure there will be succession planning in the future as well. What is important—this is why the announcement has been made in this way—is that Ilan is clear that he will stay until the new person is in place.

AI Opportunities Action Plan

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Thursday 5th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

A series of funded programmes have been looking at the introduction of AI in government in particular. Some reports were published in the last couple of weeks showing time savings and degree of satisfaction, and identifying where the use of AI will be most useful and where it will be problematic. There are already some outputs from that work in the public domain. We will continue to make them public as we assess the performance of AI in government systems. A unit called i.AI is developing new approaches, such as Humphrey, which have been widely publicised.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my tech interests as set out in the register. We welcome the GDS report, to which the Minister referred, on driving tactical productivity improvements in the Civil Service with AI tools. Does he agree that to realise deep strategic change through AI in the Civil Service will require a hugely ambitious digital transformation? Are the Government being realistic about how challenging this is likely to be? How will they keep Parliament updated on their approach and progress?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

Oddly enough, I am aware of how difficult this is and how much work is needed. The requirements range from data to the ability to get it into a form that can be read and be interoperable; that is behind the national data library and the health data research service which we have announced. There are skills issues right across the Civil Service and elsewhere which need to be addressed, with skills increased, along with the application uptake of AI by businesses across the UK. All those are part of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, and there are things under way in each of those areas. I do not think this is straightforward. It will require some experimentation. There will be some things that will not work as well as expected and others that we will need to move faster on. I expect this to be a very dynamic field over the next few years.

Scientists: Working in the United Kingdom

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I reiterate the point I made: it is very important that we make schemes available to people from all over the world; it is not about targeting a specific country. We will do so, and we are working on schemes to make attractive offers both to individuals and to groups. This is an important area. There have already been many approaches to universities for people who want to base themselves here, and it is important that we have a system that is sustainable and effective, making sure that researchers can work in what is a world-class system in the UK.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, whether they are homegrown or imported, it is clear we are increasingly going to need more researchers in this country. Equally increasingly, we are competing internationally for research talent. What, therefore, is the Government’s assessment of our overall net attractiveness to researchers right now? How do the Government propose to monitor this going forward and adapt as needed?

Artificial Intelligence: Public Services

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

We are working closely with our friends in Europe on AI, both at the safety and security level through the AI Security Institute and more broadly. We have a bilateral meeting with France coming up in July, where this will be discussed. There is a need for all of us to think about which models we want to rely on and become dependent on and, indeed, where models can be made that are not general-purpose, wide, generative models but narrower models that can answer the questions we need to answer. Not everything comes down to broad, generative AI.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, the Government’s plan to drive tens of billions in productivity savings in the public sector with AI is, of course, welcome. But does the Minister agree that any success here will depend on the effective measurement and reporting of progress? If so, what can he tell us today about how progress is going to be measured and what progress has been made so far?

AI: Cross-sector Legislation

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend. I am unaware of absolutely everything that is going on in the House this afternoon, and I am afraid that I was not aware of that. However, he is right to point out that the professions will be greatly affected by AI and the legal profession is certainly one of those. There is an enormous amount of work that could be done by AI, just as an enormous amount of work can be done with AI across the Civil Service. That is why there is a big push at the moment to adopt AI across the Civil Service. I think the same will happen in other professions, including medicine, law, architecture and many other areas.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

I note what the Minister said about remaining committed to AI legislation, but the uncertainty for everybody affected by AI, whether in the tech industry or elsewhere, is a real challenge. Can the Minister flesh out, in some small way, the scope, timing and purpose of planned AI legislation?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I can certainly give the noble Viscount an indication of the scope. As I have said clearly, this is not going to deal with regulation that can be done by existing regulators. The use of AI in existing areas is something for the regulators that are specialists in those areas. It will not deal with the AI assurance tools, which will be developed separately, but it will look at artificial general intelligence and the emergence of new, cutting-edge AI—the things that we know will cut right the way across other areas and require particular attention.

Engineering Biology (Science and Technology Committee Report)

Viscount Camrose Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Grand Committee

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

My Lords, I join other noble Lords in congratulating and thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Brown, and the other members of the committee, for a report that is not just fascinating and important but clearly urgent, and whose urgencies have been underlined by some fascinating speeches this afternoon. I fear that engineering biology is a subject that does not receive the public attention it deserves, so I am delighted that today we can go some small way towards rectifying that.

I hope that noble Lords will forgive me if I begin by pointing to some of the foundations laid by the previous Government. In 2023, the science and technology framework identified engineering biology as one of the five critical technologies vital to the United Kingdom’s prosperity and resilience. That commitment was deepened through the National Vision for Engineering Biology, published in December 2023, which pledged £2 billion over 10 years to develop the sector. The then Government moved to establish an Engineering Biology Steering Group, set up a £5 million sandbox fund to accelerate regulatory reform for innovative biology-derived products, and, following the pro-innovation review led by Professor Dame Angela McLean, created the Engineering Biology Regulators Network to make the UK’s regulatory landscape clearer, faster and more innovation friendly.

Importantly, the previous Government recognised that we had a once-in-a-generation opportunity, with a combination of emerging technology and science, comparative advantage and regulatory freedom. The ambition was clear: by 2030, the UK would have a system of regulation and standards that would be pro-innovation, easy to navigate and internationally competitive. Regulators would have a mandate to support innovation, with reduced testing costs to allow UK innovators to compete globally. We would move faster than international competitors in setting technical rules for critical technologies, strengthening the UK’s position as a global standard setter. That vision was and remains crucial if we are serious about leadership in sectors such as engineering biology.

In this excellent report, Don’t Fail to Scale, the message is equally clear. The UK retains outstanding research capability and a dynamic ecosystem of innovative companies. However, the committee rightly warns that, without consistent investment and strategic leadership, there is a real risk that these companies will scale up elsewhere and that the economic and strategic benefits will be lost to other economies. Many noble Lords spoke powerfully about this risk.

The committee makes a number of important and valuable recommendations. It calls for an industrial strategy that clearly places engineering biology at its heart, with a focused plan for scaling innovations domestically. It recommends the appointment of a national sector champion, a high-profile leader from industry or academia who can convene across government and drive delivery. It highlights the need for significantly increased investment in skills, including further doctoral training centres, as well as stronger use of public procurement to support emerging UK companies and technologies. Critically, it emphasises that the UK’s regulatory environment must continue to move quickly, with clear, innovation-friendly pathways that reduce time and cost to market for new products.

One test of the Government’s seriousness about engineering biology will be whether they reaffirm the full £2 billion funding commitment set out in the National Vision for Engineering Biology. The previous Government made that commitment because they recognised that this is not just a peripheral opportunity but central to the future of our food systems, health technologies, fuels and materials industries. It is an area where the UK continues to have a genuine comparative advantage—for now. As the report makes clear, it will retain that advantage only if engineering biology in the UK is backed by sustained investment and clear strategic intent.

On that basis, I close by asking the Minister to confirm three things, if possible: first, that the £2 billion commitment will be maintained in full; secondly, that the forthcoming industrial strategy will reflect engineering biology as a national priority; and thirdly, that they will ensure that regulatory reform—so crucial to first-mover advantage—remains a live and urgent priority. It was very good to hear from my noble friend Lord Willetts on that topic earlier. The opportunities in engineering biology are extraordinary. They are matched by the strength of the foundations already laid by our scientists, our entrepreneurs and the strategic choices made in recent years. What is now needed is the consistent and purposeful delivery of what we know is necessary.