Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that taxpayer-funded support, including grants and tax reliefs, for AI and data centre funding provides benefits to the public.

Through AI Growth Zones we are ensuring that local communities benefit by providing £5 million for each AI Growth Zone to support skills and adoption in the area, and by ensuring that local authorities in England keep 100% of all business rates generated by sites where pre-existing arrangements do not exist.

The AI Growth Zones programme aims to crowd-in tens of billions of pounds in private investment and drive growth through job creation and by creating opportunities such as creating skills and apprenticeships pathways, R+D partnerships with local universities and creating investment opportunities for British businesses to participate in major AI projects.