Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to require AI developers to demonstrate that their models include technical protections against the generation of (a) child sexual abuse imagery and (b) other (i) illegal and (ii) harmful material.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, possessing, or distributing CSAM, including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content. We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators.
As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment his Department has made of the risk of generative AI being used to produce child sexual abuse material.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, possessing, or distributing CSAM, including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content. We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators.
As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to include statutory obligations for AI developers to adopt safety-by-design measures to prevent the creation of child sexual abuse content.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, possessing, or distributing CSAM, including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content. We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators.
As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that AI models are developed with safeguards to prevent their use in generating child sexual abuse material.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, possessing, or distributing CSAM, including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content. We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators.
As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Industrial Strategy on Scotland.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our modern Industrial Strategy will drive growth in Scotland's globally competitive sectors – from advanced manufacturing in Glasgow and the UK’s second-largest financial services sector in Edinburgh, to life sciences in Dundee and Aberdeen’s status as a global energy capital. Investments including up to £750 million in a new supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh and our support for the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage project will have a major positive impact on Scottish growth.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Association for Decentralised Energy entitled Consumer-Led Clean Power: How to Unlock Consumer-Led Flexibility for Clean Power 2030, published on 17 June 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government supports significant growth in consumer-led flexibility, as set out in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. We are grateful to the Association for Decentralised Energy for its work in this area. In our Action Plan, Government committed to publishing a Flexibility Roadmap in 2025. The Roadmap will set out further detail on how the benefits of clean flexibility will be unlocked for the consumer, following the assessment of relevant evidence.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of consumer flexibility on reducing energy costs; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that clean energy produced in Scotland directly impacts households in Scotland.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Consumer led flexibility reduces electricity system costs for all by minimising the amount of peaking generation and associated network infrastructure that needs to be built in the long term. Modelling shows that deploying short duration flexibility such as consumer led flexibility, battery storage and interconnectors, could reduce electricity system costs by up to £70bn by 2050.
Our reforms through the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements to the current national pricing model deliver better incentives for industrial investment in Scotland in the coming years by encouraging market stability and investment. This will support the timely delivery of new generation in the right places – which is designed to lower consumer bills in GB, including Scotland.
Scotland is at the forefront of the drive towards clean energy, with Great British Energy headquartered in Aberdeen and Cromarty Firth recently being awarded £56 million to become the UK’s first floating offshore wind port capable of making turbines at scale.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to accelerate grid connection times for small and medium-sized enterprises and manufacturers participating in grid-balancing schemes.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is implementing fundamental reforms to the connections process that will free up capacity and accelerate connections, including for small and medium-sized enterprises and manufacturers. But we recognise that further action is needed and that is why we announced plans in the Industrial Strategy to launch a Connections Accelerator Service and use new legal powers to accelerate grid connection timelines for demand projects.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of e-invoicing for small businesses on reducing payment times.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to tackling late payments, which can be a major obstacle for small businesses. In September 2024 we announced new measures including a new Fair Payment Code (launched in December 2024), legislation requiring large companies to report headline payment performance data in their annual reports, and a public consultation on further measures.
Business adoption of e-invoicing can also help improve payment times by reducing administrative burdens and streamlining invoicing processes. DBT and HMRC recently ran a consultation to gather views on promoting e-invoicing in the UK and will be publishing a summary of responses in due course.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of e-invoicing for small businesses on productivity.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government is committed to driving business productivity and economic growth in the UK. Adoption of digital technologies, such as e-invoicing, can significantly improve firm-level productivity by streamlining business processes and reducing administrative work and errors.
However, few small businesses use e-invoicing in the UK. Adoption of e-invoicing by SMEs in the UK is behind countries like France and Germany. This is why, as announced at Budget 2024, DBT and HMRC recently ran a 12 week consultation on promoting e-invoicing in the UK. We will be publishing a summary of responses and updating on next steps in due course.