Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will set out what support is available to small businesses to strengthen cybersecurity to prevent economic disruption.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Improving the cyber security of our nation's small businesses is critical to the resilience of our wider economy. We recognise many small businesses lack the resources to invest in their cyber security. As such, the government has developed a wide range of free tools, guidance and training to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) implement cyber security measures, including the Cyber Action Toolkit which provides SMEs with tailored advice on protecting their business.
National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)-certified Cyber Advisors are available to provide advice and guidance on commercial terms and SMEs are eligible for a free 30- minute consultation. Additionally, the government's Cyber Essentials scheme helps all organisations, including SMEs, implement critical cyber security controls, protecting them from most common cyber attacks and provides them with free insurance. All of this information is available on the NCSC website.
More broadly across government, the Home Office funds a network of Cyber Resilience Centres which provide free resources, guidance and training to SMEs to strengthen their cyber security.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what consideration she has given to the potential merits of introducing mandatory minimum cyber resilience standards for strategically important firms and supply chains.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 provides the UK’s only cross-sector cyber legislation, focused on protecting the security and resilience of essential services. The regulations impose security duties on Operators of Essential Services (OES) and relevant digital service providers (RDSPs) to take "appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures" to manage risk and prevent and minimise the impact of cyber incidents.
The Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill, introduced in November 2025, updates these regulations to ensure it is fit for today, and the future. It will cover a wider range of critically important entities, including data centres and large load controllers and relevant managed service providers (RMSPs). The Bill will also allow, through secondary legislation, for security and resilience requirements to be set for regulated entities. Our proposals for this legislation will be linked to existing, high level security duties and be consistent with the NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework.
Regulators will also have the power under the Bill to designate certain suppliers as “critical” if a compromise or outage in their systems can cause a disruption to their services that would have serious, cascading impacts for our society and economy. Proportionate cyber security and resilience duties and requirements to applying to those designated suppliers, with associated requirements will be developed through secondary legislation and guidance. This will ensure that these critical suppliers have the appropriate cyber security and resilience measures in place, helping to protect the UK’s critical infrastructure from disruption.
The Bill sits alongside other regulatory regimes, such as for public telecoms providers and financial services, and a range of other tools to help organisations actively improve their cyber resilience. For example, the government offers the Cyber Essentials certification scheme to prevent the most common cyber attacks. Organisations with Cyber Essentials are 92% less likely to make a claim on their cyber insurance than those without it.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of her Department taking an equity stake in artificial intelligence companies as part of its Sovereign AI Strategy.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Sovereign AI is a new government VC fund backed by £500 million to invest in strategically significant UK AI companies, anchoring them here to drive national advantage.
Direct equity investment, integrated with a package of government-only support levers will be central to this mission.
This ensures Britain has a stake in the technologies shaping our future, protecting people from future economic shocks while powering UK growth.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to encourage frontier artificial intelligence laboratories to establish significant operations in the United Kingdom, including through public co-investment and support for UK capital markets.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK is an excellent place for frontier artificial intelligence companies to expand operations, with a world leading R&D ecosystem which is home to four of the world’s top ten research institutions. These companies are already choosing to build in this country. For example, in February 2026 OpenAI announced that it is significantly expanding its presence in London, establishing the city as its largest research hub outside of the United States. Google DeepMind is also opening its first automated research lab in the UK this year.
The Government has also delivered an ambitious programme of reforms to make it easier for firms to list and raise capital on UK markets, this includes overhauling the Prospectus Regime and Listing Rules.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help ensure that the personal data of UK citizens held by UK companies but stored on US-based servers is protected from access under (a) the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001 and (b) other US legislation; and whether he plans to take steps to increase data sovereignty protections.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under UK data protection laws, UK organisations must ensure personal data is appropriately protected when transferred internationally. The UK has an adequacy decision for certain transfers to the US, which assessed US government access laws and practices. Where adequacy cannot be relied upon, organisations must use alternative safeguards, such as contractual clauses.
The UK believes complex issues like data security and digital governance are best addressed through transparent, inclusive multi-stakeholder engagement. The UK remains committed to working with international partners via recognised global mechanisms to promote shared understanding and responsible behaviours, while supporting UK-based data-driven businesses to innovate and grow.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department offers (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Department does not offer paid time off work specifically for kinship care. However, the Department does offer unpaid carer’s leave and both paid and unpaid special leave for employees who have caring responsibilities for dependants, either family or friends, which can include kinship care.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with (a) civil society and (b) animal protection organisations on ending animal testing.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government is committed to supporting the use of alternative methods to the use of animals in science and the Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government will be consulting civil society and animal protection organisations as this process unfolds.