Technology Adoption Review

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in implementing the recommendations of the Technology Adoption Review.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business and Trade and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (Baroness Lloyd of Effra) (Lab)]

The review’s recommendations were incorporated into the industrial strategy and since its launch we have begun to deliver on our commitments. For example, we have allocated £99 million of funding to allow for the expansion of the Made Smarter programme to support increased adoption of technologies such as AI in advanced manufacturing. We are taking forward work to implement the recommendations of the SME Digital Adoption Task Force, which published its recommendations in July.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, among its many findings, the review identified that there is a proliferation of different business support schemes designed to improve technology adoption and productivity. Many of these are short lived, their impact is variable and they are hard for SMEs to navigate. What consideration is being given to streamlining business support based on the evidence of which interventions have proved most successful in the past?

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for her commitment and sponsorship of this important area. Long-term certainty is critical in driving private sector investment. That is why we are expanding successful programmes such as Made Smarter Adoption, and making changes to government procurement and regulation. To make it easier for businesses to find the support they need, in July we launched the new Business Growth Service, including developing a single online access point for government-backed advice and support services. It has already seen over 127,000 domestic users.