Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she has taken to improve computer literacy rates amongst elderly people in a) England and b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We know there are lower computer literacy rates amongst older people and this can lead to digital exclusion - with statistics showing 86% of adults aged 60+ are online, compared to 95% of all UK adults in 2025 (2025 Consumer Digital Index report).
That’s why the Government is committed to helping more older people build these skills and confidence including through the Government’s digital entitlement. This gives eligible adults, including elderly people, access to fully funded basic digital skills courses and qualifications.
The Government £11.7 million Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund is also funding projects directly helping more older people build the skills and confidence to get online - for example the £139,000 trial to co-design targeted strategies to improve digital inclusion for older people across England and London.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she has taken to reduce the rate of digital exclusion among elderly people in a) England and b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We know that digital exclusion is a complex issue and some demographics are more likely to be digitally excluded than others, including older people – with statistics showing 86% of adults aged 60+ are online, compared to 95% of all UK adults in 2025 (2025 Consumer Digital Index report).
That’s why in February we published the Digital Inclusion Action Plan which outlines the immediate steps we are taking to help more people benefit from being online.
Since then, we have launched the £11.7 million Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund to support community-led projects across the UK. This includes 80 projects across England which will meet the specific and diverse needs of digitally excluded people – including older people - to get online with confidence.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the strategy Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, published on 11 November 2025 and the target to strengthen the commitment of journal editors to publishing research using alternative methods, what assessment her Department has made of the work being done by the Coalition to Illuminate and Address Animal Methods Bias (COLAAB) to establish editorial policies to address animal methods bias.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government’s strategy to replace animals in science includes a commitment to support journal editors to publish research using alternative methods. In developing the strategy, officials met with a range of relevant stakeholders, including international journals and publishers, to agree on this commitment and consider how best to take it forward and will continue to do so during its implementation.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the strategy Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, published on 11 November 2025 and the target to strengthen the commitment of journal editors to publishing research using alternative methods, which journal editors and publishers will be involved and what conversations she has already had with journal editors and publishers.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government’s strategy to replace animals in science includes a commitment to strengthen journal editors’ support for publishing research using alternative methods. In developing the strategy, officials met with journal editors and senior editorial and policy staff from the Journal of Pharmacology; Cardiovascular Research, Frontiers in Physiology and Artery Research; PLOS, Springer Nature, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley. Future discussions on delivering this commitment will not be restricted to these journals or publishers, and we will seek to engage more widely with this sector to drive this commitment forward.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the new false communication offence in the Online Safety Act 2023 from stifling freedom of speech.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The false communications offence within the Online Safety Act captures communications where the individual knows the information to be false but sends it intending to cause harm to a likely audience, without reasonable excuse.
Protecting freedom of expression is important to this government, and is taken into account throughout the Online Safety Act. For example, the Act requires in-scope services to give particular regard to protecting users’ freedom of expression and privacy rights when implementing safety measures.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will bring forward legislative proposals for a mandatory 14-day cooling off period for telecom contracts.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The existing Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 provide a requirement for a 14-day cooling off period, subject to some exclusions, and this applies to telecoms contracts. Generally, if a consumer enters a contract with a trader, at a distance (for example, online or over the phone) or off the trader’s premises, the trader must provide the consumer a 14-day cooling off period after the contract is entered. During this period, the consumer can cancel the contract without needing to provide a reason.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the level of energy consumption required by artificial intelligence services.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government recognises that AI is a technology with significant energy demands.
DSIT is working closely with industry to understand and forecast the future energy requirements of AI, noting that it is a rapidly evolving technology.
Through the AI Energy Council, we are collaborating with DESNZ and relevant energy stakeholders to ensure our energy system is prepared to meet the needs of AI.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support the (a) development and (b) deployment of artificial intelligence to reduce the use of animals in scientific (i) research and (ii) testing.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Labour Manifesto commits to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”. While it is not yet possible to replace all animal use, we support the development and application of approaches that replace, reduce and refine animal use in research (the 3Rs), including via artificial intelligence. The Prime Minister launched the AI Opportunities Action Plan in January which outlined 50 actions needed to drive up the development and deployment of AI.
The Government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an estimate of the number of jobs at risk due to the adoption of artificial intelligence in (a) industries reliant on manual labour and (b) other industries.
Answered by Feryal Clark
We are already witnessing AI’s impact within the labour market: transforming the workplace, demanding new skills and displacing old ones. We remain mindful of this impact and its effect on the UK workforce, whilst working to harness the benefits that AI can bring – such as productivity gains, rising living standards, and improved worker wellbeing.
The Get Britain Working White Paper from DWP, HMT and DfE sets out how government will address key labour market challenges. We continue to work closely with these and other government departments through the AI Opportunities Action Plan to monitor this rapidly developing area.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions his Department has had with regulators on supporting the uptake of human-specific technologies to replace the use of animals in the preclinical testing of new medicines.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government is committed to the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science. We are engaging with regulators including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and international medicines regulators such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) as to how we will take this commitment forward.
Government support for alternative methods includes human specific technologies such as organoids and organs-on-chips. The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) provides major funding for one of Europe’s largest organ-on-a-chip facilities at Queen Mary University.