Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the criteria were for appointing members of the Digital Centre Design Panel; and whether those members will provide declarations of interests for publication.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Digital Centre Design Advisory Panel was established to advise, test ideas and constructively challenge our thinking as we develop the new digital centre of government.
DSIT selected individuals who bring a diverse set of views and experience from across the UK tech sector, academics, digital government, regional growth and international voices, including co-chairs Martha Lane Fox and Paul Willmott.
DSIT holds the appointee’s declarations of interest and will publish them in line with Cabinet Office guidance.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
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 impact of the migration of analogue phone lines to digital voice over internet protocol on elderly people in Gosport.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that some customers may face heightened risks during the migration from the analogue landline network to voice over internet protocol and my officials and I have worked hard since the election on mitigating risks to vulnerable people across the country. On 18 November 2024, the Department published guidance for communication providers on how to identify and support these customers when their landline migrates.
The Department also published a checklist of activities that communication providers must take before migrating customers to voice over internet protocol without their active consent. We expect providers to meet the safeguards set out in this checklist to keep customers safe throughout the migration.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to run an awareness campaign for the switchover from analogue to digital phone lines.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is supporting plans put forward by major communication providers to run an awareness campaign, paid for by industry, for the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) migration to digital landlines. The campaign will be launched in 2025.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the open letter entitled Statement on AI Training, published on 23 October 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Minister for Creative Industries, Arts, and Tourism and I held roundtables with the creative, media and AI sectors last month and our departments continue to engage with those stakeholders to inform our approach. The Statement on AI Training provides the views of individual creators and performers from across the sector and will also inform our approach alongside our engagement with the AI and broader creative industries sectors.
The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the creative industries and AI sectors while recognising the value of human-centred creativity. Whilst clarity is needed, this is a complex topic, and we must take the time to hear stakeholder views and give them careful consideration.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the publication entitled Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2023, published on 11 September 2024, what steps he plans to take to (a) increase funding for the further development and uptake of human-specific methods that can replace the use of animals in medical research and testing and (b) support scientists to transition to these approaches.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has committed to partnering with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the requirements for phasing out of animal testing and we are currently engaging with the sector as to how to take this commitment forward.
The Government invests £10m annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to accelerate the development and adoption of non-animal approaches. The NC3Rs receives additional funding from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for specific programmes and substantial in-kind support from companies for their CRACK IT innovation programme.