King’s Speech (4th Day)

Lord Holmes of Richmond Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as set out in the register as an adviser to LEMI Ltd. I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Vallance and Lord Livermore, on their new ministerial positions; I look forward to working with them over the coming months. I particularly congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, on his excellent maiden speech, and likewise my noble friend Lord Petitgas on his tremendous contribution. I look forward to more from both.

I will concentrate on three areas, all of which touch on productivity, possibilities, potential and growth—that is economic, social and psychological growth. The first, as rightly identified by my noble friend Lord Shinkwin, is the issue of disabled people and employment. We currently have an employment pay gap for disabled people of over 13%. I welcome the forthcoming Bill from the Government and look forward to seeing the detail, but could the Minister say what plans the Government have to close that disability employment pay gap?

More than that is the employment gap for disabled people; only just over half of disabled people of working age are in employment, compared to more than eight in 10 non-disabled people. What is the Government’s plan to address this? The previous Government made some progress, but nowhere near enough. Governments of all persuasions cannot continue to waste this talent, decade after decade. It is clear that, when we have a tight labour market, we must look to the talent pools. Disabled people are a bright, deep and broad talent pool, from which the country needs to benefit.

The second area is the question of international trade. Last year’s Electronic Trade Documents Act was described variously by me as the most important law that no one has ever heard of and the blockchain Bill that does not mention blockchain. However, it is extraordinarily important, because it is probably the first time that the UK has legislated for the possibilities of new technologies, if you will. Why is it significant? It can unlock billions in liquidity and address the trade finance gap. Could the Minister say what the Government’s plan is to enable all enterprises, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises—many of which do not, or believe they could ever, export—to be aware of the possibilities of this new legislative opportunity? What work is happening from the Foreign Office to ensure that other nations—our friends around the world—are aware of opportunities they could benefit from if they passed similar electronic trade documents legislation?

The third area, as has already understandably been touched on—not least by the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, and the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones —is the question of artificial intelligence. It is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities in our human hands. Human-led or human-in-the-loop technologies must be the way that we look at artificial intelligence.

I note that the report of the Chief Scientific Adviser, in March 2023, highlighted the opportunities from artificial intelligence and rightly identified that urgent action was required within the next 12 to 24 months. Is that still the Government’s position? We have such an opportunity to change so many of the difficulties that have dogged our society and economies for decades, if we understand how to fully deploy AI and do that with the right-sized regulation and legislative framework. To my mind, it is not time to wait and see, as the previous Government did; it is not time to look just at high-risk models, important though they are, as the current Government are doing. We need broad, cross-cutting, horizontally focused legislation and right-sized regulation to ensure that we benefit from the opportunities and put the citizen, the consumer and creatives at the heart of everything that we do in AI.

If that is not the Government’s plan, what they would say to creatives whose IP and copyrighted works are being taken with no consent and no remuneration, not least by large language models? What do the Government say to those who find themselves on the wrong end of an AI decision, often without even knowing that AI has been involved in the mix? Even if they found out that AI was there, they do not have any right of recourse or regulator to go to. What is the position if the Government and society do not have a true, invigorated public debate around artificial intelligence, to answer the question, “What’s in this for me?”, being asked by people up and down the country? If there is no trust, people are unlikely to avail themselves of the opportunities of AI and will certainly find themselves on the wrong end of its burdens.

This must be principles-based and outcomes-focused, in which inputs are understood and, where necessary, remunerated. Look at the Government’s regulatory innovation office; why not make it an AI authority and the centre of excellence, and of experts, which is the custodian of the principles of trust, transparency, innovation and interoperability, with an international perspective, accountability and accessibility? We have such an opportunity in the UK, with our great tech sector, universities and English common law, to play a critical role with AI. Does the Minister agree that it is time to look broad, to legislate and to lead? This is our data, our decisions and our AI futures.