Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the outage of Amazon Web Services in October 2025 on Government web services.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member for Newton Abbot to the answer given on 27 October 2025 to Question 83776.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the outage of Amazon Web Services in October 2025 on the technology sector.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT has communicated with AWS extensively throughout and in the immediate aftermath of the outage, to understand the situation and to ensure recovery was underway. All services have since been restored and we remain in regular contact with AWS.
We continue to work across government and with businesses to understand the full impact of the outage, identify lessons, and look at how we can mitigate impacts and ensure resilience in future.
The forthcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will protect the services the public rely on to go about their normal lives. This will include expanding the scope of the regulations to include more types of essential and digital services and making sure they adhere to robust cyber security practices.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question 63915 on Digital Technology: Proof of Identity, for what reason the Government has now taken such steps.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has announced plans for a new national digital identity credential to be available to UK citizens and legal residents aged 16 and over. This will make it easier for people to securely access the services they are entitled to, where they want to, while also helping to prevent illegal working and deter illegal migration. Employers will be required to conduct digital right to work checks using the new digital ID by the end of this parliament.
We recognise the importance of both cybersecurity and privacy. We will consult and engage on the practical operation of the scheme, and the data structures underpinning it, as it is developed. The data for the digital ID scheme will be federated, as doing so is good practice for things like this. That means most data will stay where it is already safely stored, such as in HM Passport Office or other government departments, and only joined up if and when needed.
Following the Machinery of Government changes of 23/10/2025 policy responsibility now sits with the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to implement a centralised issuance with decentralised data architecture model for a national digital identity system.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government will launch a public consultation on the new digital ID credential by the end of the year, seeking views on the design, build and delivery of the system.
We will work closely with expert stakeholders, including the Information Commissioner’s Office and the National Cyber Security Centre, to make the programme as effective and secure as possible. Our approach will involve a federated data model, to ensure privacy and security.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question 63915 on Digital Technology: Proof of Identity, what discussions the government has had with private sector bodies regarding digital ID venders.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government will start a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year and has naturally begun engaging with key stakeholders, including charities, trade unions, trade bodies and associations, businesses and local government leaders already. We will continue to engage through the consultation period and beyond to support product delivery.
We expect it to be designed, built and run by in-house Government teams, not outsourced to external suppliers. In the event any specialist external services or expertise are procured to support the delivery of new digital ID, this will be subject to all the usual competitive processes to ensure transparency, and value for the taxpayer.
The Government is also keen to learn from other countries that implemented successful digital ID programmes. The Rt Hon Pat McFadden travelled to Estonia in August to understand more about the Estonian digital ID system.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has had discussions with (a) Apple, (b) Google and (c) other technology companies on delivering digital identity schemes.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government will start a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year and has naturally begun engaging with key stakeholders, including charities, trade unions, trade bodies and associations, businesses and local government leaders already. We will continue to engage through the consultation period and beyond to support product delivery.
We expect it to be designed, built and run by in-house Government teams, not outsourced to external suppliers. In the event any specialist external services or expertise are procured to support the delivery of new digital ID, this will be subject to all the usual competitive processes to ensure transparency, and value for the taxpayer.
The Government is also keen to learn from other countries that implemented successful digital ID programmes. The Rt Hon Pat McFadden travelled to Estonia in August to understand more about the Estonian digital ID system.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, which organisations her Department has met with as part of the development of digital identity proposals.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government will start a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year and has naturally begun engaging with key stakeholders, including charities, trade unions, trade bodies and associations, businesses and local government leaders already. We will continue to engage through the consultation period and beyond to support product delivery.
We expect it to be designed, built and run by in-house Government teams, not outsourced to external suppliers. In the event any specialist external services or expertise are procured to support the delivery of new digital ID, this will be subject to all the usual competitive processes to ensure transparency, and value for the taxpayer.
The Government is also keen to learn from other countries that implemented successful digital ID programmes. The Rt Hon Pat McFadden travelled to Estonia in August to understand more about the Estonian digital ID system.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what potential providers in the private sector her Department has had discussions with on the GOV.UK Wallet policy.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Since the announcement of the GOV.UK Wallet in January, DSIT has met with providers of digital identity services on multiple occasions. This included events on 14th May and 29th July, the first of which was attended by over 60 representatives from the sector and follow up meetings with individual companies who requested it to discuss technical elements of the GOV.UK Wallet development.
The GOV.UK Wallet is being designed, built and run in-house whilst maintaining a key role for the private sector, which will provide the data flow between the information in the GOV.UK Wallet, and the organisation (such as a retailer) who needs to check information about the user. Any additional specialist external services may be needed to support delivery and will be subject to the usual competitive processes.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate she has made of the number of people who are considered digitally excluded in (a) the South West and (b) the UK.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We know that digital exclusion is a complex issue and the evidence base is significant but fragmented. Ofcom data from 2025 reports that 5% of households in the UK do not have access to the internet and that, in the South West of England, 7% of the population do not use the internet. That is why we launched the Digital Inclusion Action Plan in February of this year, which sets out the first five actions we are taking to boost digital inclusion in every corner of the UK, including the South West of England.
One of these actions was to develop robust headline indicators to monitor progress and inform future digital inclusion interventions. We will evaluate the outcomes of these actions as our understanding of best practice evolves.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on sovereign AI capability through public sector procurement contracts since 10 September 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ministers and officials regularly meet with their counterparts in other departments to discuss important matters, such as sovereign AI capability and procurement policy
The Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence, established earlier this year following the publication by DSIT of ‘A blueprint for modern digital government’, plays an important role in shaping best practice in relation to technology procurement policy.