Intellectual Property: Artificial Intelligence

Esther McVey Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Esther McVey (in the Chair)]

Order. This is a well-attended debate, but I hope to get everybody in. I have spoken to the Front Benchers: the Minister will have 10 minutes, and the Opposition spokespeople have agreed to go down to five minutes, so there will be a limit of three minutes per speech for Back Benchers. I hope that all hon. Members will be suitably aware of their fellow Members who want to speak, and I ask that interventions be interventions and not speeches, or I will stop you.

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[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Frith) on securing this important debate and, in the words of my favourite artist, Stevie Wonder, “Happy birthday to ya”.

In my constituency, I have a brilliant example of how technological advances can expand the performing arts in the best way, with the wonderful “ABBA Voyage” and its famous digital avatars, or ABBAtars, as we call them. I have, however, also been contacted by more than 200 constituents, because we have a thriving creative hub in east London. They have very real concerns about what the development of AI means for their careers—the careers that they have devoted their lives to.

Motion designers, photographers and illustrators have been in touch with me, as has “The voice of the Northern line”. To give an example, a few people who work in illustration have written to me with their concerns, outlining that without suitable safeguards, their careers and businesses are being put at risk, not to mention their creative output, as we have already heard from hon. Members. The creative output of these illustrators is their craft and their life’s work, which they have honed—in some cases, they have spent decades training—but it is all at risk of being cannibalised. There is a tension between big-scale changes from technology and AI, which can enrich our lives, and the impact that those changes can have on individual creators, who are the engine of the culture that we consume. That tension needs to be reconciled.

I am proud that Britain is leading the way in so many technological advances, but we absolutely have to get to the bottom of the concerns that my constituents and others mentioned today have outlined. Could the Minister provide any assurances about how the Government are addressing those concerns and showing that they are listening to the voices of our constituents? Could he also outline how the Government will ensure that artists and creators retain control over their voice, style and licences?

[Esther McVey (in the Chair)]

To fit in the last couple of speakers, we will go down to two minutes per speech, but I will get everybody in.

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[Esther McVey (in the Chair)]

I thank Members for keeping so keenly to the time limit, which has allowed us to get everybody in.

Digital Landlines: Rural Communities

Esther McVey Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Damian Hinds]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to identify the importance of network resilience as well as individual household connectivity—and, in a more general sense, to keep reminding us of the linkage between landline and mobile telephony. For so much of the country there is an assumption that if someone cannot get on the phone at home, they can still use a mobile phone. That just is not the case in some places, and certainly not in cases of storm damage.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

The reality is that in rural and semi-rural areas such as Tatton, broadband is unreliable, poor and intermittent; when coupled with power cuts, there is no broadband whatsoever. We have heard about the needs of vulnerable people with medical devices. Does my right hon. Friend agree that there are rural businesses that need connection to the internet to pay for things online, and that they use a landline to dial for that automation?

[Damian Hinds]

I do recognise that, and hopefully I will be able to come on to it. While broadband and mobile connectivity have improved markedly in many areas, there is still a big gap between towns and rural areas. With electricity, the key point is that we have been having storms more frequently—and in our sorts of rural areas, with storms comes damage to powerlines.

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[The Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms (Chris Bryant)]

It is a delight to see you in the Chair, Mr Betts, and to see so many Members take part in this debate. From the moment I was appointed as the Telecoms Minister, this issue has been the single thing that has kept me awake most at night. It is about very vulnerable people up and down the country, many of whom have absolutely no understanding of what PSTN might mean, how their telecare device works or whether it will work when a man or a woman comes to change the connection to their house, and so on.

At the same time, on day one, I was made very aware by officials that the single biggest problem we have is that the copper network is simply becoming less and less reliable. Simply remaining with the old system will not work, because that will leave more people in danger, rather than fewer. The very first thing I did as a Minister was to rant in the office, “We are going to get everybody round the table to come to a better set of decisions.” It was preposterous to me that people were still selling telecare devices that would only work on an old analogue system, and would not work on the new system at all.

[Esther McVey]

rose—

[Chris Bryant]

I will not give way for the moment; I want to make a few points first, if that is okay.

It was also preposterous to me that still very few people had any understanding of what was happening in their own home and that most operators had no proper connection with a list of vulnerable patients or customers, despite the fact that local authorities, health boards and a whole series of other public sector bodies have precisely that information.

As I said, the very first thing I did was to stamp my foot and we got everybody round the table—I think it was in July last year, and we had another meeting later in September. I was forceful with all the operators in this field. First, I wanted to make sure that every single local authority was written to and told that they must provide that list of vulnerable customers to the operators. They started saying things about GDPR and I said, “No, you know perfectly well that we are able to get round these issues for this specific purpose.”

Secondly, I was trying to make sure that there was much greater resilience in the system—the point that several Members have made. Thirdly, of course the Ofcom rules say batteries only need to have one hour of back-up, but it is not just Vodafone that offers more than that; BT, KCOM and Zen Internet have all announced, following discussions I had with them back in September and November, that they will now have a battery power of between four and seven hours. Of course, that is not perfect—if there is a flood or something that will knock out the systems for several days—but that is when other resilience measures from local authorities really need to kick in.

I have acted in all those different areas from the beginning. I say this as gently as I can to the former Minister, the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds): the briefing that I had was that previous Ministers were utterly complacent in this area, and that is why I was determined to act.

[Esther McVey]

The explanation that has been given is that the switchover is happening because of the poor condition of the copper, but has the Minister sought reassurances? Has there been a full investigation? I find it hard to believe that the copper is so bad that the switchover cannot be delayed. Will he go back and get assurances that it needs to be done?

[Chris Bryant]

It is a fact. We have to deal with the facts, I am afraid. It is a simple fact that the copper system is now failing on a daily basis.

[Esther McVey]

Has the Minister got facts?

[Chris Bryant]

Yes, I have facts. I would be happy to write to the right hon. Lady if she would like me to. I remember that last July, my anxiety was that somebody would end up having a telecare device not working because of VoIP. Since that time, the number of failures has increased far more in relation to when copper has failed, rather than in relation to VoIP. That is the precise fact that we have to deal with.

The former Minister, the right hon. Member for East Hampshire is right; it is an industry-led process and it always has been. We have to deal with the practicalities of the fact that the copper system is not going to last forever. The other former Minister over there, the right hon. Member for North East Cambridgeshire (Steve Barclay), is looking cross with me. I am not saying that the civil service briefed me to that effect.

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[Chris Bryant]

And therefore I am not, I am afraid, going to give way again.

[Esther McVey]

Come on—it’s his debate.

[Chris Bryant]

All right. I will give way.

AstraZeneca

Esther McVey Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Bryant]

That is the cleverest bid for finance that I have ever heard, so my hon. Friend gets an award for that. She is right that we stand ready at any point to assist key investments of this nature, especially in the life sciences sector. The difference between the amount of money that was theoretically made available by the previous Government and the amount that we were prepared to put forward was remarkably small. The issue is how to ensure that similar investments get over the line. Someone from the Department will meet Steve Rotheram.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

How does losing £450 million of investment on Merseyside and into the wider north-west area equate with the Chancellor’s stated priority of economic growth?

[Chris Bryant]

The right hon. Lady puts it in a particular way, but it is not a way that is consonant with the facts. The fact is that this deal had not been signed or got over the line by the previous Government, who, as I have said, would quite often announce things and not actually deliver in the end. In spring 2024, the then Chancellor made it very clear in the documents that accompanied the Budget that all of this was contingent—his words, not mine—on due diligence. The then Government had not yet done the due diligence.

Oral Answers to Questions

Esther McVey Excerpts

Thursday 27th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Nicola Richards (West Bromwich East) (Con)]

4. What steps her Department is taking to support grassroots sport.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

6. What steps her Department is taking to support grassroots sport.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stuart Andrew)]

Supporting grassroots sport is a key priority for the Government. Last year, Sport England received almost £350 million to fund grassroots sports projects. We are also supporting community participation, with more than £300 million between 2021 and 2025 to deliver up to 8,000 multi-sport facilities in communities across the UK.

[Stuart Andrew]

May I praise my hon. Friend and her colleagues for the tremendous amount of work she has done in standing up for the fans of the clubs she has worked with so closely? Frankly, too many clubs face financial troubles, and we continue to monitor situations across the football pyramid. We have set out the reforms that will protect football clubs so that they can meet their day-to-day liabilities and preserve the clubs for the future. That will include sanctions, where necessary. We will introduce new owners’ and directors’ tests, including a fitness and propriety test and enhanced due diligence of owners’ sources of wealth, and we will require owners to demonstrate robust financial plans to provide people like her constituents with the assurances they need.

[Esther McVey]

In Wilmslow in my Tatton constituency, we have a football academy run by Erik Garner, which will be putting on a girls’ world cup for primary age children this summer. That is possible only because town councillors stood in to give funding to ensure the maximum number of girls can participate. Given that women’s football is still growing, will the Minister explain how organisations that do not have parish and town councils that can step in can access financial support from the Football Association for similar events, to help to inspire the next generation of Lionesses?

[Stuart Andrew]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend’s constituent for the work he is doing. We are all proud of the Lionesses’ success and the inspiration it has given. The majority of funding for grassroots sport is delivered through Sport England. We invested £21 million in 2021-22 and £46 million in 2022-23 in grassroots sports facilities in England. We suggest that organisations hoping to run similar events contact Sport England or the FA, and many community groups that do not have parish councils do so. We are also carrying out an in-depth review of women’s football, chaired by former Lioness Karen Carney, which will report this summer.