Oral Answers to Questions

Lauren Edwards Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

Of course, I agree with my hon. Friend. Additional powers will be coming online via the Online Safety Act 2023. I wish that those powers had come into force earlier; that was a legacy of the previous Government. We have done everything we can to expedite those powers as quickly as we can. From March onwards, there will be powers that make extreme pornography illegal and that require sites to protect children from accessing pornography. Child sexual abuse and its related activity should not be called pornography—it is rape, and it should be called what it is—and we should do everything we can to keep it offline.

[Lauren Edwards (Rochester and Strood) (Lab)]

7. What progress he has made on setting up AI growth zones across the country.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Feryal Clark)]

As detailed in the “AI Opportunities Action Plan”, artificial intelligence growth zones will help to secure the UK’s position as a global leader in AI, ensuring that benefits are felt across the whole of the UK. My hon. Friend will be pleased to hear that on Monday we invited local and regional authorities along with the industry to come forward with potential suitable sites for hosting AI infrastructure.

[Lauren Edwards]

Rochester and Strood, positioned between London and mainland Europe, is well placed to help drive the UK’s AI economy. We have: several net zero energy projects ready to go, with further plans for a data centre and battery storage; a council that is already using AI and which created an AI accelerator programme to support local businesses; and three university campuses that are driving innovation. Will the Minister meet me to discuss my constituency’s potential as a future AI growth zone?

[Feryal Clark]

I thank my hon. Friend for strongly advocating for her constituency in Medway to become an AI growth zone. She will well know that the “AI Opportunities Action Plan” outlines the steps we are taking so that the UK can build the cutting-edge computer infrastructure needed to lead in AI development and deployment. I eagerly look forward to reading expressions of interest from hon. Members’ constituencies. I will be more than happy to meet her to discuss this in detail.