Baroness Kidron

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's (DSIT) largest channel of support to businesses is delivered through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI will deliver £38.6 billion of R&D investment over the next four years, including £7 billion to support innovative company growth, the majority of which we expect will go towards UK-headquartered firms.

DSIT and UKRI categorise investments by the location of where activity is performed in the UK, not company ownership. The department does not hold data in the format requested on whether a recipient of funding or wider spending is a UK or US-headquartered firm. Most US firms operating in the UK do so via UK subsidiaries and therefore have UK registered addresses in our payments system.

DSIT will shortly be publishing a stretching target and action plan for our procurement spending with small and medium enterprises, most of which will be UK-based.

The Government keeps relevant global legal and regulatory developments, including live litigation in the US, under review as we develop our approach to copyright and AI. When issuing government contracts or agreeing to memorandums of understanding with AI companies, Government is required to undertake appropriate due diligence and risk assessment on a case-by-case basis.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the Data Controller for the AI Skills Hub, and PwC acts as UKRI’s Data Processor. The AI Skills Hub is facilitated by PwC and is made available to users through a third‑party platform provided by Invision Community. Invision host data within the European Economic Area (EEA). Data collected from users is only shared where legally permitted. Data may be shared with service providers, such as Invision, or with third parties as required by applicable law or regulation.

The Government is taking several steps to support UK-headquartered AI companies and SMEs in procurement:

• We are specifying social value criteria in procurement decisions that support selecting SMEs as implementation partners, and running targeted secondary procurements sized appropriately for smaller suppliers, informed by insights from SMEs and industry bodies including TechUK, AI UK, and Innovate UK.
• The AI Opportunity Scanning Team, now fully operational, provides cross-government technical horizon scanning and market intelligence to understand evolving AI capabilities and supplier landscapes.
• We are exploring innovative procurement approaches through the Commercial Innovation Hub and have launched the National AI Tender for a GOV.UK Agentic AI Companion following positive market engagement.
• The Open Source AI Fellowship programme, launched via the Alan Turing Institute, brings open-source AI specialists into government.
• The AI Knowledge Hub is being updated to include comprehensive technical guidance to support informed procurement decisions.

This government is committed to supporting SMEs and British business as much as possible including through procurement. The current edition of the AI Playbook for government contains broad advice for decision makers looking to procure effective, ethical and safe systems. Updates to Government guidance will have lines on how to adhere to the Procurement Act (2023) which came into force this year. The Act has specific provisions to encourage government procurement from small and medium sized by enhancing transparency and competition.