Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what purposes the Health and Safety Executive has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

A team of data analysts within the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have been undertaking research activities to explore how AI approaches can be used to gain insights from HSE data whilst maintaining strict adherence to data ethics principles.

HSE policy is continuously reviewed and updated as innovative technologies arise. These may then be selected for use, following scrutiny within the business to ensure they meet HSE's standards on security, ethics and benefits.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what purposes the UK Statistics Authority has used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 24 January is attached.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) farmers and (b) food producers use sustainable farming methods in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government’s commitment to farmers and food producers remains steadfast. We will always champion British farming to boost rural economic growth, strengthen food security and improve the environment.

Defra has allocated £5 billion for the farming budget over two years. This will include the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history: £1.8 billion for environmental land management schemes. This enables us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector, with the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and Landscape Recovery all continuing. This funding will deliver improvements to food security as well as the environment, in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency and more broadly across Lincolnshire and the rest of the country.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the length of waiting lists for a lifesaving organ in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne

The active transplant waiting list in the United Kingdom is above pre-pandemic levels, with people waiting longer for a transplant than they have previously. As of 31 December 2024, there were 6,858 people on the transplant waiting list in England, and 113 people in Lincolnshire, excluding temporarily suspended patients.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manage transplant services across the UK. They are working to reduce the number of patients on the waiting list by revising the National Organ Retrieval Service to improve its efficiency, supporting clinical teams to increase the use of extended criteria donors, implementing new technology to improve non-use rates, and encouraging people to register to donate through high profile year-round campaigns including Organ Donation Week, World Sight Day, and World Kidney Day, in partnership with a wide range of charities and community groups.

The Department, NHSBT, and NHS England are working together to improve utilisation of all solid organs following recommendations from the Organ Utilisation Group 2023 report. Once fully implemented, the aim is to utilise more donor organs for transplant to save and improve the lives of those on the waiting list.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to help tackle illegal waste in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency (EA) works with a range of professional partners to tackle all waste crime. In Lincolnshire the EA jointly chairs the Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership made up of Local Authorities and professional partners like the Fire Service and NFU. The local EA enforcement team is currently investigating a site near Holbeach St Johns in South Holland, Lincolnshire where bales of shredded, wrapped landfill waste have been deposited and stored illegally.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the support for out of hours doctors services in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No such assessment has been made by the Department. The commissioning of out of hours services, and the extent to which those services are supported, is the responsibility of local commissioners in partnership with their providers, to serve the best interests of their populations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what purposes the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In November 2024, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a statement of intent for artificial intelligence (AI). It outlines the NICE’s approach to using AI to streamline its processes and increase efficiency and effectiveness. The NICE currently uses a natural language processing solution to facilitate the searching of its recommendations, and machine learning based text classifiers within its evidence management software. To assist with daily tasks, NICE staff have access to Microsoft’s Copilot, and the NICE communications team is trialling the Government Communications Service’s Assist tool. Further information on the NICE’s statement of intent for AI is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/corporate/ecd12/chapter/purpose-of-this-document

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what purposes the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that it has not used artificial intelligence over the last 12 months.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what purposes the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

During 2024, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) identified 20 artificial intelligence (AI) use-cases for prototyping with different technologies with different AI paradigms.

The use-cases range from productivity through to decision making, across all areas of the business, including communications, customer services, and helpdesks, as well as across the regulatory activities for the whole product lifecycle, including post-market surveillance. MHRA technical specialists have collaborated closely with science, health, and regulation subject matter experts to produce the first batch of AI prototypes.

As a result of the successful outcomes in the prototyping phases, the team is now considering next steps in productionising the prototypes, whilst maintaining safety and efficacy. The work takes a risk-proportionate approach, tailored to each use-case, rather than a one size fits all risk-averse blanket approach to all scenarios.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of bank branches on rural communities in (a) towns and (b) villages.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government understands the impact of bank branch closures on rural communities and the importance of face-to-face banking and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.

Furthermore, FCA guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. As well as banking hubs, alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking and via the Post Office.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to work with local authorities to support kinship carers in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. Kinship carers often take on this role at a time when they were least expecting to raise a family and we recognise the challenges they face, including financial.

Through the Autumn Budget 2024, the department announced £40 million to trial a new kinship allowance in some local authorities in England. We will test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of caring for a child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. ​​We will share further details and the process for selecting local authorities in due course.​

This is the single biggest investment made by government in kinship care to date. This investment could transform the lives of vulnerable children who can no longer live at home by allowing children to grow up within their families and communities, reducing disruption to their early years, so they can focus on schooling and building friendships.

The department understands the unique challenges kinship carers face and is committed to providing the necessary support.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people entered the UK on a visa and overstayed in each of the last three years.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics quarterly release’.

The specific data requested is not routinely published and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at a disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court clerks worked at Boston Magistrates' Court in each year since 2014 for which data is available.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Boston operates as a hearing venue only and has done since consultation in 2019. There are 2 members of staff based there, who operate as a back office to support the wider Cluster, taking work primarily from Lincoln County Court. The role of Court Clerk exists in two jurisdictions, Crown Court and County Court. The Crown Court does not sit in Boston. If required, County Court clerks travel over from Lincoln.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of fraudulent visa applications made in (a) 2023 and (b) 2024.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

There are a wide range of circumstances which can lead to a visa application being classed as fraudulent, including the use of false documentation, or lying about the purpose of a visit, employment status or financial situation.

Data on the total number of fraudulent visa applications is not readily available in accessible form and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of this question at a disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people entered the UK through irregular means other than small boats in (a) 2023 and (b) 2024.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of detected irregular arrivals to the UK across four routes of entry in the ‘Immigration System Statistics quarterly release’.

Data on inadequately documented air arrivals, recorded detections at UK ports and recorded detections in the UK, alongside small boat arrivals and can be found in Irr_01 of the ‘Irregular migration summary tables’. This data covers the period 2018 to September 2024.

Data covering the period of October to December 2024 is due to be published on 27^th February 2025.

Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for he policies of trends in the levels of reoffending rates in Lincolnshire in the past five years; and what steps her Department is taking to help reduce reoffending rates in that county.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The overall proven reoffending rate for Lincolnshire has decreased from 28.8% in 2018 to 26.3% in 2022 (the latest year for which reoffending data is available – see Table 1). Despite this overall downward trend, the reoffending rate increased from 24.5% in 2021 to 26.3% in 2022. We have seen reoffending rates increase slightly as we move away from Covid-affected periods (during which reoffending rates were impacted by court closures and other Covid-related operational restrictions). Despite this, rates remain lower than historical levels.

This Government is committed to reducing reoffending by giving people the tools they need to turn their backs on crime, including by investing in getting offenders into employment which we know can reduce reoffending by up to 9 percentage points.  We have, for example, recruited specialist employment leads in prisons to support and prepare prisoners for work on release. This role is currently in place at HMP Lincoln and HMP North Sea Camp, two prisons located in Lincolnshire. We have also recently launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time will bring businesses together with probation services and the Department for Work and Pensions to support offenders in the community. The county of Lincolnshire is covered by the East, North & West Midlands Employment Council.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what purposes NHS England has used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Artificial intelligence (AI) presents significant opportunities within NHS England to improve delivery of care and outcomes for patients by increasing the speed and accuracy of diagnosis, alongside improving staff productivity, by freeing up staff time from some routine and administrative work.

Many of these AI technologies are being tested and evaluated in NHS England to aid clinical decision-making, healthcare diagnostics, and imaging. For example, AI has been used to analyse and interpret acute stroke brain scans to support doctors in making treatment decisions in 100% of stroke units in England. In addition, many new technologies have been deployed in over half of acute trusts in England in high-demand areas, such as chest x-rays and chest computed tomography scans, to enable faster diagnosis of diseases like cancer.

AI can support clinicians and National Health Service managers in running clinical operations through note taking during mental health consultations, appointment scheduling, and bed management. For example, automated voice to text tools, which use AI to listen to and transcribe patient notes, could help ease the administrative burden faced by staff and make systems more efficient. Several trusts in NHS England are currently running trials, including a multi-site assessment of the impact of using automated transcription software.

The deployment of AI in the NHS is still at a relatively early stage, with many AI tools being used in a research capacity. To address this, the Department is carrying out work, with NHS England, to assess the barriers of safe, ethical, and effective adoption and improve the way AI tools are deployed and used in NHS England.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support children in foster care in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is committed to ensuring that every child in care grows up with the love, care and support they need to achieve and thrive.

The government is supporting children in care by expanding ‘The Mockingbird Family Model’, which is an innovative, evidence-based approach. Relationships are central to the design of the programme, which involves six to ten satellite families grouped into a constellation around a hub home carer. In East Midlands, this is being delivered as part of the Foster with East Midlands recruitment hub, which launched in March 2024 and comprises of four local authorities, including Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby and Derbyshire.

Across England, ten fostering regional hubs, covering 64% of all local authorities, have been set up to reform the way areas recruit and retain foster carers. An additional £15 million was announced to support this programme at the Autumn Budget 2024 and we intend to move towards full national roll out in the next financial year. Lincolnshire is not currently in a hub, but departmental officials have spoken with local authority leaders about their options to become part of an existing or new hub. In the past year, Lincolnshire participated in Fosterlink, a department funded diagnostic and analysis project to support improved recruitment of foster carers.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what purposes the Rural Payments Agency has used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Rural Payments Agency participated in a Central Digital and Data Office led cross-government trial of Microsoft’s AI tool called M365 Copilot, which uses generative AI. This trial started on 7 November and ended on 31 December. M365 Copilot was used for limited tasks, such as note-taking or summarising information, to assess how AI can support day-to-day productivity.

RPA have a limited number of licences to explore this capability further. All content produced by Co-pilot AI is checked by a human for accuracy. RPA are not currently using Copilot for customer interactions.

The Rural Payments Agency have undertaken AI pilots to support remote sensing, monitoring land, and intelligence on flood detection to deliver environmental outcomes for Defra. Two projects are now operational that use AI and satellite imagery to classify crop types across England and a system to detect flooding on agricultural land. We publish information about algorithmic tools we develop, where they are used in decision-making processes that affect members of the public, using the Algorithm Transparency Recording Standard.

The new Government will now examine the findings to inform the next stages of the strategy.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, for what purposes Ofgem has used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Ofgem is currently trialling applications of AI, though it is currently in the early stages of exploring the benefits, risks and appropriateness of AI. Ofgem adheres to the Government AI Principles.

Trials initiated in the last 12 months include:

• Social media analysis for monitoring supplier performance and emerging trends in consumer experience.
• Identifying non-compliance with supplier licence conditions.
• Providing draft responses prior to human review, to consumer queries.
• Generating programming code
• Predicting the financial impact of non-compliance in Ofgem managed schemes
• Selecting targeted cases for audit to identify fraud across schemes
• Using the Government Communication Service (GCS) Connect platform for GCS members, internal to Government

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many inflatable boats used to smuggle people across the English Channel were seized in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested is set out in the below table:

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what purposes the Competition and Markets Authority has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is as the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

Internally, the Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) works with AI in two important and mutually reinforcing ways.

Firstly, the CMA carries out research into AI – including hands-on technical work – to ensure it has a strong technical understanding of frontier technologies, can assess their implications for consumers and competition, and ensure its work helps unlock the AI opportunity for the UK.

Secondly, the CMA pilots and implements uses of AI internally as part of its digital transformation, with the aims of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the CMA’s frontline work, horizon scanning, cases and investigations – as well as to transform day-to-day operational productivity.

Over the last 12 months the CMA has used AI in a range of ways to serve these purposes. This includes testing off-the-shelf AI tools for day-to-day operational productivity and cyber security, as well as developing and piloting more bespoke in-house applications of generative AI to support horizon scanning, market monitoring, and analysis on cases and investigations.

The CMA draws on a range of resources to inform its use of AI including internal and external expertise from across academia, industry, international counterparts and the wider public sector. This includes utilising resources on GOV.UK, such as the Generative AI Framework, and liaising with the Government Digital Service and the Department for Business and Trade.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what purposes the Pensions Regulator has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has used artificial intelligence (AI) over the past 12 months to support its regulatory functions and decision-making to better protect savers.

To ensure AI is used responsibly and effectively, TPR has established an AI Accelerator Team and is exploring the creation of an AI Advisory Council. These initiatives aim to promote safe and ethical AI adoption both within TPR and across the pensions industry.

Key areas where AI has been applied by TPR include detecting pension scams, monitoring market trends, predicting pension scheme health and managing website feedback.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what purposes the Food Standards Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is using AI, both traditional and generative, for a range of purposes. Using traditional AI, we have focused on pattern detection for food risk identification using, and developing, approaches to extract and structure information contained in documents, from shipping manifests to webpages. We aim to see food safety and authenticity risks before the food lands on the United Kingdom’s shores.

For generative AI, we are piloting its use in our front-line services in the field by using mobile based AI applications. The goal of this is to streamline our inspection of meat businesses by having AI help collate notes during the inspection process, which will allow uniformity in reporting and improve data quality. We aim for this to improve the existing method, which involves inspectors carrying large amounts of equipment while taking written, paper-based, observations.

We have also deployed generative AI tools to improve data quality. As most data from national and international food alert systems is unstructured text, considerable human effort has been required to extract the relevant information and then categorise it to a standardised format. The aim is to reduce the manual work required in improving data quality, which will allow colleagues to spend more time deriving insights from data rather than cleaning data, while also improving the speediness of the response.

The FSA can draw on a range of resources, published on the GOV.UK website, to inform AI usage. For example, the Generative AI Framework, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, the AI Opportunities Action Plan, and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.

The FSA also has access to the Government Digital Service, part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, for expert advice.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what purposes HM Land Registry has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

HM Land Registry is exploring the potential of Artificial Intelligence to deliver the outcomes set out in the blueprint for modern digital government published on 21 January 2025. The policy paper can be found on gov.uk here.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what purposes the National Crime Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The NCA is working on a number of productivity improvements using AI.

Examples include piloting automation for case management of investigations and automating back-end processes in the areas of Human Resources and Finance.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department has provided to youth groups in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the two latest periods for which data is available; and if she will take steps to increase that funding.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

DCMS has not directly provided funding to youth groups for youthwork activities in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency. Local authorities hold the statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area.

The National Youth Strategy will be co-produced with young people and the youth sector to ensure it meets the needs of young people right across the country. This Government is also committed to tackling barriers to opportunity for all young people through the Opportunity Mission.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, for what purposes the Crown Prosecution Service has used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is exploring new and existing technologies, including AI, to enhance efficiency. AI has the potential to support the CPS day-to-day in the delivery of justice. I am keen to explore the opportunities for efficiency that this new technology can bring, being mindful of ethical considerations.

A pilot of Microsoft Copilot concluded in August 2024, with approximately over 400 staff across the organisation given access to Copilot to assist them in everyday tasks such as summarising emails, creating PowerPoint presentations, and analysing excel data.

The scheme established that that Copilot reduced the amount of time it took staff to complete administrative and day-to-day tasks and has the capacity to save thousands of hours across the organisation.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, for what purposes the Serious Fraud Office has used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

During the past 12 months, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been trialling the use of Technology Assisted Review (TAR), utilising AI, on a live criminal case. The trial demonstrated that TAR could help meet legal disclosure obligations more efficiently.

The trial adhered to relevant disclosure guidelines and officials are still making the decisions on what is in fact relevant and what is disclosed.

Following the success of the trial, the SFO is planning to use TAR in more SFO cases in the future.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what purposes The National Archives has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The National Archives has used artificial intelligence for over the past 12 months and its officials have, with robust safeguards, piloted the use of AI in several areas, seeking to:

• Speed up office-based tasks. For example, piloting the transcription of some internal meetings and summarising texts.

• Improve public services. For example, investigating creating short summaries of record descriptions for the online catalogue and identifying amendments and enabling powers in legislation on legislation.gov.uk.

• Support the government to better manage its information. For example, investigating AI tools to aid officials in the appraisal, selection and sensitivity review of digital records before their transfer for preservation at The National Archives.

• Aid research into historical records. For example, transcribing handwritten and printed text in historical records.

The National Archives can draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform AI usage. For example the Generative AI Framework, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework and the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

The National Archives also has access to the Government Digital Service, part of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, for expert advice.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for what purposes the UK Space Agency has used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country. As part of a government-wide trial run by the Government Digital Service, the UK Space Agency has access to the Microsoft Copilot AI tool. This capability has been used to support internal-facing information exploitation activity such as generating minutes for meetings, creating summaries of transcripts and documentation, and producing initial drafts of documents. During the trial, the UK Space Agency has drawn on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, such as the Generative AI Framework, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, and the Data Ethics Framework, to inform its use of AI tools, and has been working closely with the Government Digital Service, part of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, for expert advice and to provide feedback on the Copilot tool.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

In the last 12 months the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has used artificial intelligence (AI) for the following purposes:

1. A limited form of AI has been used by the DVLA’s contact centre in the form of a Chatbot.

2. The Drivers Medical team use a form of AI on a small number of cases. However, it is important to note that a decision on whether to issue a driving licence in these cases is always made by a staff member.

3. An AI solution is used to develop in-house training courses.

4. AI is used to assist with cyber security threat detection and analysis.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what purposes the UK Health Security Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has focused artificial intelligence (AI) on both internal operational improvements and on external interventions, to enhance the United Kingdom’s health security.

UKHSA toxicologists have installed and are testing a cutting-edge commercial system integrating advanced data analytics with AI to detect airborne pollen in real-time. Further information is available at the following link:

https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2024/09/11/how-cutting-edge-ai-technology-could-hold-the-key-to-forecasting-the-pollen-count/

The UKHSA has also successfully deployed one of its AI projects to the Tuberculosis (TB) Unit. This system enhances the manual review of country-of-origin documentation to identify those born in high-risk countries who are eligible for TB screening in the UK. The system is being trialled alongside standard practice to test performance and quantify the benefits that it brings.

The UKHSA has implemented governance structures to ensure the use of AI aligns to cross-Government guidance and the agency’s mission. In May 2024, details of a UKHSA Advisory Board paper on AI was shared on GOV.UK website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukhsa-advisory-board-agenda/ukhsa-advisory-board-artificial-intelligence

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what purposes the National Infrastructure Commission has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The National Infrastructure Commission have used AI as a tool to improve the efficiency of their analysis and modelling, which has reduced the need for external contractors.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what purposes His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

Staff in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation service are part of a controlled pilot that is testing the use of Microsoft 365 Copilot.

All use of artificial intelligence in the Ministry of Justice is undertaken in line with the Ministry’s AI Ethics Framework and aligned with the Generative AI Framework for government and the Algorithmic Transparency Reporting Standard.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes the Office of Rail and Road has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is exploring how best it can use AI in a way that improves efficiency and effectiveness without compromising quality, confidentiality or security. The organisation is also exploring how AI might be used in the rail and road sectors, and any implications for its regulatory work.

ORR staff are able to use generative AI services with data that is already in the public domain such as enhanced search and summarisation, and initial thinking on documents/emails/presentations in accordance with the guidance to civil servants on their use.

For uses that involve non-public information, staff require authorisation. Authorised uses over the last 12 months have been:

· Communications work using the Government Communication Service specific generative AI tool.

· A pilot exploring the use of a specialist app to produce videos using AI generated avatars and copy

· A pilot exploring whether an AI tool can support the creation of formal minutes, and which tool is most effective

· A pilot using machine learning techniques to analyse underlying causes of performance issues on the railway

· Pilots exploring using AI to search internal documentation for specific purposes.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary school breakfast clubs she plans to introduce in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is committed to offering a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what purposes the Money and Pensions Service has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Money and Pensions Service monitors developments in AI policy and practice to understand the potential impact on financial guidance provision and broader financial service experience.

A limited number of people within the organisation are using Microsoft CoPilot, with strong safeguards in place.

MaPS is also testing conversational AI Copilots to support colleagues who provide our guidance services. These are not currently live.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

MCA are using Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is a Generative AI tool for productivity. This tool is being trialled by a selected number of users. Copilot has been used to undertake tasks such as summarising documents, minute taking, report writing and document comparisons.

AI is not currently in use within the MCA systems or for any citizen services.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what purposes HM Revenue and Customs has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

As a department, over the last 12 months, HMRC has made use of more ‘traditional’ AI techniques to improve operations and drive productivity.

HMRC’s current applications of the technology can be divided broadly into supporting compliance, customer service and wider operations:

• In compliance, HMRC uses tools to predict debt risk and likelihood to pay, identifying the customers we need to give more support to. HMRC uses predictive analytics to identify taxpayers most likely to be non-compliant and document analysis to identify cases of potential fraud. All tools maintain a ‘human in the loop’ to take decisions.
• In customer services, HMRC uses machine learning techniques to understand, categorise and search customer contact data for identifying sentiment and satisfaction rates. HMRC also use these tools to categorise and group feedback which it can use to improve customer journeys and improve services.
• In its wider operations, HMRC uses machine learning tools to route inbound correspondence to the right teams and summarise and categorise consultation responses. HMRC also uses recommender systems to identify the most appropriate next action for debt recovery and management and using image detection tools to identify websites making fraudulent use of the HMRC logo.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what purposes HM Courts and Tribunals Service has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

Work to date has involved early-stage testing of solutions including productivity tools like Microsoft Co-pilot, intelligent document processing, knowledge management and transcription, to help our staff operate effectively and efficiently. However, we currently have no live AI systems in use across our operations and front-line services.

A small number of staff are trialling the use of Microsoft 365 Co-pilot as part of a Ministry of Justice wide pilot, looking to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks.

HMCTS can draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform AI usage. For example, the Generative AI Ethics Framework, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, the AI Opportunities Action Plan and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of fertility testing in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made of the availability of fertility testing in the South Holland and Deepings constituency or Lincolnshire. Data is not collected centrally.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what purposes the Charity Commission has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Charity Commission has used Generative AI (GenAI) in the production and editing of some video content in the past 12 months.

The Charity Commission has robust internal policies in place that define acceptable and prohibited uses for GenAI modules and applications, to ensure its legal and ethical use.

The Charity Commission also considers the Generative AI Framework for HM Government when making decisions concerning the approval of GenAI tools and use cases.

Found: _4 Sammy Wilson Sir John Hayes .

Found: _4 Sammy Wilson Sir John Hayes .

Found: 2024-07-01 2024-07-01 INTERNAL MEETING Nil Return SERVICE_FEE NIL RETURN £0.00 £0.00 £5.00 £5.00 JOHN HAYES

Found: Leadership events Glasgow; UK Scheduled flight, Taxi Economy/Standard 449.79 232.00 N/A 681.79 John Hayes

Found: Return Nil return Nil return Nil return John Evans Nil Return Nil return Nil return Nil return John Hayes

Found: Return Saghir Akbar Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Dale Kidson Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return John Hayes