Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to introduce skills retraining and workforce support measures, in the context of the deployment of AI technologies in workplaces.

We want to ensure that people have access to good, meaningful work. AI will impact the labour market and Government is working to harness its benefits in terms of boosting growth, productivity, living standards, and worker wellbeing, while mitigating the risks. We’re planning for varied outcomes and monitoring data to track and prepare for these. The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out how we will address key challenges and that includes giving people the skills to get those jobs and spread opportunity to fix the foundations of our economy to seize AI’s potential.

The Government is supporting workforce readiness for AI through a range of initiatives. The new AI Skills Hub, developed by Innovate UK and PwC, provides streamlined access to digital training. This will support government priorities through tackling critical skills gaps and improving workforce readiness. We are also partnering with 11 major companies to train 7.5 million UK workers in essential AI skills by 2030.