Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Sovereign AI fund will invest in companies that train AI models on copyrighted work without a license.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has been clear that copyright rules should be respected. Use of copyright works to train AI in the UK requires a licence unless an exception applies. Companies supported by the Sovereign AI Fund are expected to comply with applicable UK law.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she has taken to implement the Replacing animals in science strategy.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The strategy sets out a long‑term, cross‑government programme to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, with clear delivery responsibilities assigned across government and partner organisations. Those responsible have begun delivery and the inaugural meeting of the cross‑government ministerial group established to oversee implementation has taken place. Several commitments, including the establishment of a preclinical translational models hub, are already well advanced. The Government plans to publish a delivery update, including key performance indicators, later in 2026.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to establish the Committee on Alternative Methods; and whether her Department plans to have a call for membership that enables participation from animal protection organisations alongside other relevant stakeholders.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The strategy commits to establishing a committee on alternative methods in 2026 and we have already commissioned the Animals in Science Committee for advice on the scope, governance and composition of such a committee.
The Government already engages with stakeholders, including animal protection organisations, through a range of established forums to ensure the strategy remains science‑led, up to date, and focused on driving the development, validation and uptake of advanced non‑animal methods. This engagement will continue throughout strategy implementation.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to publish a breakdown of the £100 billion in private investment it states has been attracted to the UK AI sector since 2024 and what proportion of that is spent onshore within Britain on British goods and services reverse the proportion of investment spent offshore on foreign companies.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK AI sector attracted the third highest levels of AI related private investment in the world. Alongside this, the UK produces the second highest number of AI startups globally. This Governments remains focused on ensuring the UK remains the most attractive place in the world to build AI companies and lead on AI adoption.
The £100bn figure referenced refers to the total amount of private investment that firms have pledged to invest into the UK’s AI sector. This pledged investment demonstrates international confidence in the UK’s strong and growing AI ecosystem, supported by the Government’s strategic approach to innovation, world leading research base, and pro investment policy environment - including the UK’s strengths in AI talent, compute, research, and responsible innovation.
Whilst decisions on investment is a matter for private companies, Government has been clear that it will encourage investment that will enable UK firms and people to benefit.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what mechanisms are in place to ensure transparency in the reporting of private investment linked to the Government’s AI strategy and the proportion of that investment which is spent onshore within Britain on British goods and services reverse the proportion of investment spent offshore on foreign companies.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK AI sector attracted the third highest levels of AI related private investment in the world. Alongside this, the UK produces the second highest number of AI startups globally. This Governments remains focused on ensuring the UK remains the most attractive place in the world to build AI companies and lead on AI adoption.
The £100bn figure referenced refers to the total amount of private investment that firms have pledged to invest into the UK’s AI sector. This pledged investment demonstrates international confidence in the UK’s strong and growing AI ecosystem, supported by the Government’s strategic approach to innovation, world leading research base, and pro investment policy environment - including the UK’s strengths in AI talent, compute, research, and responsible innovation.
Whilst decisions on investment is a matter for private companies, Government has been clear that it will encourage investment that will enable UK firms and people to benefit.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department audits private investment commitments included in his Department's press announcements on AI infrastructure.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK AI sector attracted the third highest levels of AI related private investment in the world. Alongside this, the UK produces the second highest number of AI startups globally. This Governments remains focused on ensuring the UK remains the most attractive place in the world to build AI companies and lead on AI adoption.
The £100bn figure referenced refers to the total amount of private investment that firms have pledged to invest into the UK’s AI sector. This pledged investment demonstrates international confidence in the UK’s strong and growing AI ecosystem, supported by the Government’s strategic approach to innovation, world leading research base, and pro investment policy environment - including the UK’s strengths in AI talent, compute, research, and responsible innovation.
Whilst decisions on investment is a matter for private companies, Government has been clear that it will encourage investment that will enable UK firms and people to benefit.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what proportion of the AI-related private investment announced by her Department since 2024 has been contractually committed.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK AI sector attracted the third highest levels of AI related private investment in the world. Alongside this, the UK produces the second highest number of AI startups globally. This Governments remains focused on ensuring the UK remains the most attractive place in the world to build AI companies and lead on AI adoption.
The £100bn figure referenced refers to the total amount of private investment that firms have pledged to invest into the UK’s AI sector. This pledged investment demonstrates international confidence in the UK’s strong and growing AI ecosystem, supported by the Government’s strategic approach to innovation, world leading research base, and pro investment policy environment - including the UK’s strengths in AI talent, compute, research, and responsible innovation.
Whilst decisions on investment is a matter for private companies, Government has been clear that it will encourage investment that will enable UK firms and people to benefit.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what processes her Department uses to verify the value and form of private sector AI investment commitments.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK AI sector attracted the third highest levels of AI related private investment in the world. Alongside this, the UK produces the second highest number of AI startups globally. This Governments remains focused on ensuring the UK remains the most attractive place in the world to build AI companies and lead on AI adoption.
The £100bn figure referenced refers to the total amount of private investment that firms have pledged to invest into the UK’s AI sector. This pledged investment demonstrates international confidence in the UK’s strong and growing AI ecosystem, supported by the Government’s strategic approach to innovation, world leading research base, and pro investment policy environment - including the UK’s strengths in AI talent, compute, research, and responsible innovation.
Whilst decisions on investment is a matter for private companies, Government has been clear that it will encourage investment that will enable UK firms and people to benefit.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many new datacentres have been constructed as a result of investment by CoreWeave.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
CoreWeave's announced investments into the UK total £2.5 billion. CoreWeave has committed £1.5 billion towards the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone in Scotland, deploying cutting-edge semiconductors at DataVita's data centre campus in Lanarkshire. The earlier £1 billion investment covered the opening of CoreWeave's UK office as its European headquarters, the creation of job opportunities across engineering, operations, and finance, and the deployment of AI computing infrastructure across two data centres in Crawley and London Docklands.
Large AI infrastructure investments are complex and take time to deliver; as government, we want to encourage these investments by supporting them as best we can. Where important investment announcements and commitments are made, Government will continue to work closely with those companies to ensure the delivery of those investments.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether a formal contract has been signed with Nscale for the construction of the proposed AI datacentre in Loughton, Essex.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Matters regarding specific delivery and commercial plans for any private project are for the lead private sector investor to confirm. The government engages regularly with the sector to support build out.