Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to incentivise small businesses in the (a) computing and (b) AI sector to generate their own renewable energy.

The Government is committed to ensuring the growth of AI and data centres in the UK is done in a way that supports our clean power mission and longer-term decarbonisation goals. The department has funded the AI for Decarbonisation Programme which supports the development of innovative AI approaches to address critical challenges in decarbonisation. The department is also running a Business Energy Advice Service pilot in the West Midlands. This provides free energy assessments and match-funded grants to small businesses to support them to decarbonise and reduce their energy demand. The scheme has been extended to 31 March 2026.