Oral Answers to Questions

Lewis Cocking Excerpts

Wednesday 10th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lewis Cocking (Broxbourne) (Con)]

3. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support the adoption of new technologies in the workplace.

[The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Liz Kendall)]

New technology in the workplace can help companies become more productive and efficient. In making workplaces more accessible so that people can get work and stay in work, it is also good for people. We are supporting companies in a number of ways, especially through our industrial strategy, and we have seen great examples of UK firms adopting tech—artificial intelligence, in particular—ahead of their international peers. We want to do all we can to support companies in this area, and I am determined to take action on that.

[Lewis Cocking]

I welcome the Secretary of State to her place. Small businesses in my constituency are vital to economic growth. What is her Department doing to ensure that small businesses can benefit from innovation and new technology?

[Liz Kendall]

The hon. Gentleman raises a really important point. My own constituency is dominated by small businesses, and one issue that they always raise is that we are great at start-ups in this country but we need to do more to help those companies to scale up. I am new in the job and open to ideas, so if the hon. Gentleman and the businesses in his constituency would like to say what they think they need to help them go from start-up to scale-up, I would be more than happy to listen to them.