Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what criteria his Department is using to select sites as AI Growth Zones.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Central government will lay out a selection process, and local / regional authorities will be able to nominate themselves to host an AI Growth Zone. Important criteria will include power infrastructure or line of sight to power, along with supportive local planning authorities.
The selection process will open in spring 2025, and we welcome interest from areas with strong power infrastructure and economic potential.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to (a) protect and (b) increase employment in AI growth zones.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI Growth Zones (AIGZs) will be closely aligned with wider government initiatives, including Local Growth Plans. This is to ensure AIGZs deliver substantial regional and national benefits, such as upskilling and employment opportunities.
The investment in AI-enabled data centres will have a spillover effect in local communities, providing construction jobs, enhancing local skills, rejuvenating areas, and therefore driving the UK’s ambition to become a global hub for AI talent and investment.
UK government and local authorities will actively seek to secure the best deal possible for local communities where data centres are built, ensuring they benefit from ongoing direct employment.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of designating industrial sites in Luton North constituency as AI growth zones.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are committed to working in partnership with regional and local authorities on AI Growth Zones (AIGZs). The selection process will open in spring 2025, and we welcome interest from areas with strong access to power infrastructure and economic potential. AIGZs will be closely aligned with wider government initiatives, including Local Growth Plans, to ensure they deliver substantial regional and national benefits.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of designating sites in Bedfordshire as AI Growth Zones.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are committed to working in partnership with regional and local authorities on AI Growth Zones (AIGZs). The selection process will open in spring 2025, and we welcome interest from areas with strong access to power infrastructure and economic potential. AIGZs will be closely aligned with wider government initiatives, including Local Growth Plans, to ensure they deliver substantial regional and national benefits.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 telecoms companies on preventing fraudulent phone calls.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government takes fraud seriously. DSIT works closely with the Home Office, who are responsible for fraud policy, as well as Ofcom who have duty to ensure that UK numbers are not misused, to ensure telecoms companies are doing all they can to prevent criminals hijacking their networks to reach victims. From January, new Ofcom rules will require operators to block calls from abroad which present as a UK number.
We continue to work with the telecoms sector to ensure that as threats evolve so too does the response.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help tackle fraudulent phone calls.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government takes fraud seriously. DSIT works closely with the Home Office, who are responsible for fraud policy, as well as Ofcom who have duty to ensure that UK numbers are not misused, to ensure telecoms companies are doing all they can to prevent criminals hijacking their networks to reach victims. From January, new Ofcom rules will require operators to block calls from abroad which present as a UK number.
We continue to work with the telecoms sector to ensure that as threats evolve so too does the response.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the potential merits of including provisions in the Online Safety Bill on tackling online hate language targeted at religious groups.
Answered by Paul Scully
Under the Online Safety Bill, all user-to-user and search services will need to put in place systems and processes to prevent their users from encountering priority illegal offences, including religiously aggravated public order and harassment offences. They must also swiftly remove other illegal content once it has been reported or they become aware of its presence.
Services which are likely to be accessed by children will also be required to protect child users from content and activity that is harmful to children, including content that is abusive or incites hatred on the basis of religion.
Where content does not meet the criminal threshold and is accessed by adults, the Bill will ensure that the largest services remove content that is prohibited in their terms of service, such as hate speech. These services must also offer their adult users tools which reduce the likelihood that they see certain categories of content, or alert them to the nature of it. These tools will specifically apply to content which is abusive, or incites hatred, on the basis of religion.