Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: AI Sector

Lord Fox Excerpts

Thursday 29th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

Perhaps the noble Lord should read the entire Red Book. We are supporting AI companies in many ways. As far as data centres are concerned, we are ensuring that our national grid is linked up to them. At the same time, we are supporting the entire AI ecosystem, in every aspect of a company within that system. There is a lot more to do, and we are doing it.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, back in 2017, the Made Smarter Review identified that a major impediment to SMEs adopting the then-available technology was the management’s expertise and knowledge, particularly around digital issues. Putting his Small Business Minister hat on, can the Minister tell your Lordships’ House what the Government are doing to enable those small businesses that could grow using AI to get the expertise they need to do so?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

As Minister for Small Businesses, I spend every day talking to businesses of all sizes, including small AI start-ups. We must ensure that small companies have access to finance to start their business. At the same time, we need to encourage young people to take up AI skills. We are committed to training 10 million young people in AI skills and, so far, 2.2 million have completed programmes.