Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to provide regular public reporting on progress made against the recommendations of Replacing Animals in Science, published in November 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Government published the Replacing Animals in Science strategy in November 2025, setting out a cross-government programme to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods. To support transparency and accountability, the Government will publish a delivery update later in 2026, alongside a publicly available dashboard and key performance indicators to track progress against the strategy’s commitments.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to answer 10459, whether she has had discussions with technology companies on bereaved adult partners accessing data on the deceased's devices.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
This is a complex issue that engages a range of policy areas across Government, including intestacy and probate, intellectual property rights and privacy. The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 clarifies that certain digital assets can attract personal property rights under English and Welsh, and Northern Irish law.
My officials have met technology companies in the past to discuss the issue. Some digital services have added functionality that allow users to nominate legacy contacts, enabling them to make certain account changes and, where selected by the user, access data that has been designated for sharing following the user's death.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on supporting the upskilling of regulatory assessors as part of the Replacing Animals in Science strategy.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The delivery of the commitment to upskill regulatory assessors sits with OLS. Working with the NC3Rs Regulatory Sciences Forum, we are reviewing all existing regulatory training opportunities to identify any gaps where additional resources are needed. We are also exploring mechanisms to support regulators more easily access training and networking opportunities to help bridge gaps in understanding and address perceived regulatory barriers to implementation. The Government will publish a delivery update, alongside key performance indicators on progress across all elements of the strategy, later in 2026.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had discussions with technology companies on bereaved families accessing data on the deceased devices.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Following extensive engagement and consultation with bereaved families, civil society and industry, the government has recently brought in a number of changes to speed up the preservation of data held in social media accounts that might help explain the tragic death of a child, so that parents finally get the answers they deserve.
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 requires coroners to promptly request preservation of relevant data once aware of the death of a child. The Government will also make regulations to allow Ofcom, once notified, to automatically issue notices to the largest relevant services for children, requiring them to freeze and retain data relevant to support investigations by coroners and Procurators Fiscal.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to expand access to free AI foundations training for workers.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The government is committed to building a digitally skilled workforce to support long-term economic growth, drive innovation and expand individual opportunity. As part of this ambition, DSIT has launched the AI Skills Boost campaign to upskill 10 million workers in AI skills by 2030.
AI Skills Boost is designed to be accessible for everyone across the UK, providing free access to foundational AI training online and in person. Over 1.7 million courses have already been delivered across the UK.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the progress of the roll out of Project Gigabit in a) Bedfordshire and b) the East of England.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
Through a combination of commercial market and government subsidised delivery, government is ensuring 99% of UK premises will have access to gigabit-capable broadband by 2032.
Project Gigabit delivery across the East England region is primarily being taken forward through several Project Gigabit contracts, including those covering Suffolk, Norfolk and Bedfordshire, Northampton and Milton Keynes, alongside wider cross-regional interventions to reach remaining premises.
As a result of these Project Gigabit contracts, over 43,740 premises across the East England region have already received a gigabit-capable connection, with an additional 72,420 still expected to be given coverage. Across the county of Bedfordshire, over 5430 premises already have access to a gigabit-capable connection, with a further 1140 expected to receive a gigabit-capable connection via Project Gigabit contracts.
For the remaining premises which are not within the scope of suppliers’ commercial plans or existing Project Gigabit contracts, Building Digital UK (BDUK) is working to put in place further coverage solutions as soon as possible. A market engagement consultation for suppliers was published on 1 June to confirm supplier interest in relation to the premises that still need coverage in Bedfordshire and other areas of central, eastern and south-eastern England.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with mobile network operators on the rollout of standalone 5G.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
Since her appointment in September 2025, the Minister for Digital Economy, the Minister responsible for digital infrastructure, has met with the Chief Executive Officers of all the mobile network operators to discuss a range of issues, including digital infrastructure rollout, the market, and challenges the sector is facing.
All network operators have committed significant investment in line with Government's ambition for standalone 5G to be available in all populated areas by 2030. Government continues to work closely with operators to identify and address barriers to deployment where appropriate to do so, to support investment and improve mobile coverage and connectivity nationwide.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to coordinate policy on the development, validation and uptake of non-animal methods.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Department is working closely with colleagues across Government to strengthen coordination on the development, validation and uptake of non‑animal methods. The first cross‑departmental ministerial meeting on the delivery of the strategy is scheduled to take place next month and will provide a formal mechanism to drive progress and ensure alignment across policy areas.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with his Australian counterpart on lessons learned from Australia’s introduction of a law to ban under-16s from social media platforms.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The UK and Australia signed an Online Safety and Security Memorandum of Understanding in February 2024 to share learnings and approaches to online safety.
The government is looking at what is happening in Australia. The Australian government plans to monitor the impact of their ban and we are engaging closely with them on this. Both the Secretary of State and the Minister for Online Safety hope to visit Australia soon.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025 on the phasing out of the use of animals in scientific research and testing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting the development and uptake of alternatives to the use of animals in science and has published the Replacing Animals in Science strategy which lays out the steps we are taking to achieve that end. The strategy states that the Government will continue to support the use of animals in science where it is necessary and appropriate. The Government assesses that Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025 will have no direct impact on the phasing out of the use of animals in scientific research and testing.