Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what support her Department is providing to enable local authorities to commission AI skills training for SMEs and community groups in their areas.

The AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out how we can strengthen our AI skills and talent base to ensure AI can be used by workers and the public across the UK. We are providing targeted support to SMEs, training 7.5 million workers with essential AI skills by 2030 and trialing AI traineeships at the National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) in Newcastle, helping new UK AI graduates to develop industry-ready skill sets by working on real-world projects through industry placements.

We are also providing £5m for each AI Growth Zone (AIGZ) to support skills and adoption in the area and we are also ensuring that local authorities keep 100% of all business rates generated by sites where pre-existing arrangements do not exist.

We are targeting our funding to where it is most impactful and continue to forge strong partnerships with industry and local government to deliver these initiatives.