Ada Lovelace Day

Jade Botterill Excerpts

Thursday 16th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jade Botterill (Ossett and Denby Dale) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss, and to respond on behalf of the Government for the first time in such an inspiring debate.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) for securing today’s important debate. Her touching tribute highlighted many things about Ada Lovelace’s pioneering spirit. A daughter of the arts, she studied widely and passionately and grew up to become the mother of an entire field. Without her insight into the possible applications for computers, who knows where we would be today? An 1836 portrait of Ada proudly graces the walls of No. 10, but her legacy is about much more than a picture hanging on a wall. It is a legacy of determination, achievement and inspiration that we should honour by giving women and girls every opportunity to follow in her trailblazing footsteps.

I thank all hon. Members for their powerful contributions today. It was good to hear about the girls enjoying maths summer schools in the constituency of the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire (Ian Sollom), and about working-class women like Cat and Emily; I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) that northern women are some of our very best. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Samantha Niblett), who has spent much of her time in this place championing women in tech. I may not be a woman in STEM, but I am a woman in politics, and there are nowhere near enough of us in this profession either. It is great to see so many women in this Chamber giving this issue the debate that it deserves, and I am proud to see some of our male colleagues supporting us too.

Gender equality in STEM is not just about fairness, but about unlocking the full potential of our society. As this room shows, when women and girls are empowered to lead in any field, we gain richer perspectives, stronger teams and smarter solutions. STEM must reflect the world that it seeks to improve. It is wrong that women made up only 16.5% of the engineering workforce in 2024, and that only 22% of those in occupations developing artificial intelligence were women. That is especially troubling as we celebrate the legacy of Ada Lovelace, a pioneer in the field. A report by the Royal Academy of Engineering notes that more diverse and inclusive research teams in the United States generated 121% more patent citations than those that were not diverse—clear evidence that we work better when we work together.

Diversity in tech is not just about fairness, however, nor is it a question of patent citations. It is estimated that £2 billion is lost annually as a result of women leaving the tech sector or changing jobs because of barriers to their work. The reality is simple: talent exists everywhere, but opportunities in the tech sector do not reach everyone equally. That is why the Government fully support increasing the number of women in STEM and supporting those who already work in those areas to thrive.

That work begins in schools. The Department for Education supports a range of initiatives, including the I Belong programme and the advanced maths support programme, which aims to improve girls’ progression into advanced maths post 16, and which received £18.2 million in investment from this Government in May this year. That sits alongside our groundbreaking new £187 million tech skills programme, TechFirst, which creates the opportunities to inspire tech talent from early school age to entering the industry and beyond.

The Government support women who currently work in STEM roles in the civil service. The Government science and engineering profession is working to help women with peer support and mentoring specifically targeted at those working in science in Government. This work unites Government. A recent series of talks by women scientists about their work in the public sector attracted over 1,400 attendees from 55 Departments across Government.

It is important to recognise the work of our arm’s length bodies in supporting women in STEM. For example, UK Research and Innovation encourages participation through the STEM ambassador programme—a network of over 28,000 volunteers, about half of whom are women, that reaches more than 3 million young people each year. The brilliant CREST awards recognise pupils undertaking project work in STEM subjects, with more than 50,000 young people in the UK gaining an award each year.

It is important to mention the great work of Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, which supports women in the process of creating ideas through to commercialising products, providing targeted funding, mentorship and opportunities for women entrepreneurs and researchers. Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation programme has increased the number of women-led applications from one in seven to one in three, and an exciting new competition for Women in Innovation awards will open next year.

The UK’s national academies also play a part in encouraging and supporting women in STEM, with the Royal Academy of Engineering working closely with partners across the sector to address the persistent under-representation of women and other groups in the engineering workforce. The academy’s diversity impact programme, inclusive leadership programme and Culture+ platform all help to foster inclusivity in what has traditionally been a male-dominated field.

However, we know that there is much more to do. The fabulous female Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology was clear in her conference speech that one of her top priorities is getting more women into tech, and she has announced a brand-new women’s tech taskforce with BT Group’s Allison Kirkby and the Stemettes founder Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon. The taskforce will bring together leading voices from across industry to identify interventions for Government and industry to attract and retain more women in the sector.

Crucially, women in tech are also women in the workplace—women who are being supported by new rights on gender pay gap publishing, protections for pregnant workers and an ongoing consultation on mandatory menopause action plans. My hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) has already beaten me to this line, but together this work will ensure that progress and innovation is led by more tech sisters right here in the UK, not just tech bros in silicon valley.

In conclusion, I pay tribute to all the women in STEM who have pushed the boundaries of knowledge in our societies forward, which of course includes Ada Lovelace herself, whose pioneering work forms the basis of so much of the technology that we use today. I reiterate the Government’s support for the women who are currently working to make the United Kingdom a scientific powerhouse and encourage those currently in education to follow in their footsteps. Women in STEM is not just a slogan; it is thousands of girls in classrooms right across the country and countless women working across the sector as we speak. From listening to all the passionate contributions today, it is clear how we as leaders have a role to play in inspiring the next generation of women and girls in science, technology, engineering and maths. The talent is there in schools and laboratories across our country, and this Government are committed to unlocking its full potential.