Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 ensure mobile network operators cannot invoke the all reasonable efforts clause to avoid penalties under the Shared Rural Network agreement in (a) remote and (b) total not-spot areas.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Shared Rural Network programme is underpinned by licence obligations enforced by Ofcom. Under the licences, the mobile network operators can only invoke the reasonable endeavours clauses under specific circumstances, by providing evidence to Ofcom, and would do so at their own discretion. Ofcom will make any assessment of whether any such claims are valid at a key delivery deadline of January 2027. This is an independent process facilitated by Ofcom and it would not be appropriate for the Department to intervene and take steps to stop the operators invoking the reasonable endeavours clauses.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2025 to Question 59177 on Broadband: Coastal Areas and Rural Areas, whether the reported 95 percent coverage achieved by the Shared Rural Network will be reviewed using Ofcom’s forthcoming reporting methodology based on a 5 Mbps threshold.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The previously agreed coverage thresholds for the Shared Rural Network were designed to reflect the level of service required to make calls and access online services in areas that previously had little to no service. This remains the baseline for the programme. We will continue to work with the mobile network operators to ensure that the improved connectivity we are putting in place meets the needs of rural communities.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what his planned timetable is for publishing the consultation on the proposed AI Bill.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government plans to publish a consultation later this year on AI legislation.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to work with technology companies to co-develop (a) standards and (b) frameworks to help increase levels of trust in AI among (i) the public and (ii) businesses.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises the importance of trust in AI systems. DSIT is building confidence in and driving adoption of AI by supporting a growing, competitive, and dynamic AI assurance ecosystem. AI assurance can help provide the basis for consumers to trust the products they buy will work as intended and for industry to confidently invest in new products and services.
The Department will continue to work with a range of stakeholders, including the public and businesses, as we deliver initiatives to support the AI assurance ecosystem. This includes further developing our AI Management Essentials framework for businesses as well as our roadmap to trusted third-party AI assurance, which will be published this summer.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an international AI safety agency headquartered in the UK.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI is the technology driving the next global industrial revolution - creating the economic growth which is central to our Plan for Change. Through the AI opportunities action plan, we are cementing Britain's position as a world leader on AI.
The UK is committed to international cooperation on AI safety and security. The AI Security Institute is a central example of our leadership.
The Institute has one of the world's largest teams dedicated to AI security.
Technical talent is drawn from the best AI labs in the world, including: Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind. It is the first state-backed body of its kind, and its work sets the global gold standard for AI security.
It partners internationally, with the US, Canada and many others to develop best practices on secure AI development.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on protecting (a) elderly and (b) vulnerable people against AI scams using deepfake content; and what steps he is taking to tackle such scams.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT regularly engages with Home Office on ongoing efforts to protect users from online harms, including AI-generated scams. AI generated content is regulated by the Online Safety Act where it is shared on an in-scope service and constitutes either illegal content or content which is harmful to children.
In March this year the Act’s illegal harms duties came into force, with fraud captured as a priority offence. User-to-user services must take preventative measures to stop fraudulent content from appearing and swiftly remove it where it does. Search services must minimise fraudulent content from appearing in results. This includes AI generated deepfake scams.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 protect girls and young women from the impact of sexualised AI deepfakes.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Sharing or threatening to share a deepfake intimate image without consent is illegal. Synthetically created content is regulated by the Online Safety Act where it is shared on an in-scope service and is illegal content or content harmful to children. Government is also legislating to ban the non-consensual creation of sexualised deepfakes in the Data (Use and Access) Bill.
Where a sexualised deepfake is of a child this is child sexual abuse material and is illegal, and Government has introduced an offence in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise AI models optimised to create this content.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department conducted a Disability Impact Assessment of the Public Switched Telephone Network migration.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department has not conducted a Disability Impact Assessment. The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) migration is an industry-led programme and does not result from a government decision.
The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks arising from the industry-led migration of the PSTN to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for all customers across the UK. In November 2024, at Government’s behest, all major communication providers agreed additional safeguards to protect vulnerable customers, including for people living with disabilities.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Home Office on protecting (a) elderly and (b) vulnerable people against AI-generated scams in the form of deepfake content.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT regularly engages with Home Office on ongoing efforts to protect users from online harms, including AI-Generated scams. AI generated content is regulated by the Online Safety Act where it is shared on an in-scope service and constitutes either illegal content or content which is harmful to children.
In March this year the Act’s illegal harms duties came into force, with fraud captured as a priority offence. User-to-user services must take preventative measures to stop fraudulent content from appearing and swiftly remove it where it does. Search services must minimise fraudulent content from appearing in results. This includes AI generated deepfake scams.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 consult on draft regulations to commence Sections 61 to 64 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Draft regulations to commence sections 61 – 64 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 are currently subject to a technical consultation. The consultation, which launched on 7 May and is open until 23.59 on 2 July 2025, can be found on the gov.uk website.