Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of artificial intelligence technologies to help people back into the workforce through (1) monitoring individuals affected by illness; and (2) matching job vacancies with job seekers.

1) The Health Transformation Programme is exploring how technology can improve the Personal Independence Payment service and support better outcomes for people with Health Conditions and Disabilities.

By creating modern digital health and disability benefit services, the Programme will collect health data in a structured way. This will allow us to use data more effectively to tailor support to individual needs and to connect individuals to the right work, health and skills support for them.

Structured data will also enable the Department to harness emerging technologies, such as AI. We will evaluate the impact of the changes on customers and DWP, before using AI tools widely.

2) We are working on the design for the national jobs and careers service with a pathfinder being planned. As part of the design of the service, we will explore and test the most appropriate use of technology (including AI) to support job seekers with their work search.