Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 ensure that (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands benefit from national investment in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is putting technology at the heart of our mission to grow the UK economy.
We are launching a £250 million procurement to expand the AI Research Resource, giving UK researchers and businesses free access to cutting‑edge compute so every region can benefit from nationwide innovation.
The Government is also expanding access to free AI skills training, available to all adults across the UK, that aims to equip 10 million workers with practical AI skills by 2030, ensuring people and businesses in every region can take advantage of new technologies.
Alone, Leicester City Council received £35,391.97 from the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund for its ‘Let’s Get Digital’ project, which will help 150 peoples, this will build digital confidence for social inclusion, reducing service dependency and improving economic outcomes.
The Government is also supporting UK medicine and med‑tech manufacturing through the £520 million Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, bringing high‑value jobs to regions like the East Midlands, strengthening supply chains, and securing over £30 million of new investment.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the expansion of agentic AI tools in UK legal and professional services; and how this is informing policy on (1) innovation, (2) professional standards and (3) ethical AI use.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We remain committed to ensuring the trusted and fair use of AI and to facilitating impactful AI adoption across the UK, so that British workers - including those in legal services - can seize the benefits this technology offers.
To support this, the AI Growth Lab will act as a cross‑economy AI sandbox, enabling responsible AI products and services to be deployed under close supervision in live markets. This will drive cross‑economy growth, build trust in new technologies, and create a mechanism for dynamic, evidence‑led regulatory reform.
Alongside this, the Roadmap to Trusted Third‑Party AI Assurance sets out the Government’s ambitions for the UK’s AI assurance market and the immediate actions we are taking to help the sector mature. This includes establishing the £11 million AI Assurance Innovation Fund and convening a national consortium of expert stakeholders to support the quality and growth of the assurance market.
In addition, the Government has established the cross‑government AI and Future of Work Unit to monitor how advanced AI tools are reshaping professional work, ensure innovation is supported responsibly, and coordinate policy so that workers and businesses can adopt these technologies safely and effectively.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help protect STEM jobs in Wales.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy is protecting and expanding STEM jobs in Wales by backing future industries and Wales’s strengths in advanced manufacturing, digital technologies and life sciences. North Wales will pioneer the UK’s first Small Modular Reactor programme, supporting up to 3,000 new jobs. Two Welsh AI Growth Zones are unlocking more than 8,000 technology roles across the country, while the UK Government’s £500 million investment in an electric arc furnace at Port Talbot, and continued support for the compound semiconductor cluster, further strengthens Wales’s industrial and STEM employment base.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the strategic agreement with Westinghouse on the Nuclear Transport Solution (NTS), what assessment he has made of the potential effect of that agreement on the development of the Oldbury nuclear site.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government welcomes Nuclear Transport Solutions’ partnership with Westinghouse. Developing capability to make and transport advanced nuclear fuel is critical to shoring up the UK’s position as a nuclear world leader.
Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) owns the site at Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire. As a site which has previously hosted a nuclear power station, it has great potential for new nuclear, including advanced technologies. GBE-N is continuing early work to evaluate the site, to ensure it is ready for future deployment. This includes the potential to support any privately-led projects that might be developed by the nuclear industry.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the levels of AI adoption among UK fintech firms; and what steps they are taking to ensure that AI and fintech regulation remains proportionate and supportive of innovation.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy (“the Strategy”), the UK aims to be the world’s most technologically advanced global financial centre, and to remain a leading jurisdiction for Fintech firms to start-up, scale and list.
The UK has a long history as a powerhouse of financial services innovation. The Strategy set out a comprehensive package of reforms to maintain the UK’s global leadership in Fintech, and the sector attracted $3.6 billion of investment in 2025 - second only to the US. This drive to deliver innovation also includes the safe adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by the financial services sector, which the Government believes is a major strategic opportunity, with the potential to power growth across the UK.
As part of the Strategy, the Government is in the process of appointing Financial Services AI Champions to act as a catalyst for AI adoption and innovation in the sector. The Government has also commissioned the Financial Services Skills Commission to produce a UK-wide report on how the skills system can drive growth and productivity in FS by supporting adoption and innovation of disruptive technologies.
The Government welcomes the technology positive approach both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England take to regulation, including through launching the AI Consortium and the FCA’s commitment to avoid additional requirements on firms when using AI, as outlined in the letter from Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the FCA, to the Prime Minister last year.[1] Their pro-innovation stance will help to support the UK’s Fintechs in these fast-moving markets.
[1]This letter is available at the following link: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/correspondence/fca-letter-new-approach-support-growth.pdf
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the scope of the Royal Navy’s NavyX division.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
In early 2025, the Royal Navy’s NavyX was amalgamated with the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and the Navy Artificial Intelligence Cell (NAIC) to form the Disruptive Capabilities and Technologies Office (DCTO).
The new Disruptive Capabilities and Technologies Office (DCTO) unites the knowledge and skills of innovation specialists from NavyX, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer and the Navy AI Cell. Together, the unit rapidly prototypes, test and deploys advanced technologies to support operations at sea and will address the Royal Navy’s more pressing operational challenges.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what pilots or trials are being planned to reduce drug-related deaths in areas with the highest rates of overdose.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for drug prevention, treatment, and recovery in their areas and for commissioning services to best meet local need. This includes work to reduce drug-related deaths.
The Department has recently launched the Drug and alcohol-related deaths dashboard, which provides information on the levels of drug and alcohol related mortality and harms, and the evidence-based interventions that local authorities and treatment providers can provide to have a positive impact on reducing deaths. Local authorities have access to this dashboard and can use it to assess need and plan interventions including in areas with higher rates of deaths. We are also improving surveillance of emerging harms and drug use patterns, with quarterly surveillance data now published to support local police and health responses to synthetic opioids.
In response to increasing drug related deaths, in 2024 the Department amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone. The legislation enabled more services and professionals to supply this medication. The Department has recently launched a 10-week United Kingdom-wide public consultation on further legislative options to expand access to take-home and emergency use naloxone.
In response to the sharp rise in deaths involving cocaine, 800 deaths in 2022 to 1,195 deaths in 2024, the Department is investing an additional £200,000 in 2025/26 to develop and trial new brief interventions to target the rise in cocaine and alcohol-related cardiovascular deaths, particularly among men. The pilots will be run in acute hospital alcohol care teams with a view to making them available for use nationally across all healthcare settings in the next financial year.
Through the Government's Addiction Healthcare Goals Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge, twelve projects have received UK and Scottish government funding to develop and test innovative drug overdose detection, response, and rescue technologies and medicines with relevant populations. Future funding and support through the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme are being explored to further enable the advanced development and UK roll-out of novel drug and alcohol addiction technologies to improve healthcare and prevent harms and deaths.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Technical Excellence Colleges are planned to be in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of its mission to break down barriers to opportunity, this government is transforming further education colleges into specialist technical excellence colleges (TECs), working with a wide range of skills partners to provide young people and adults with better opportunities and the highly trained workforce that local economies need.
We have already launched ten new construction TECs, backed by £120 million, and are now expanding the TEC programme to a further four high growth sectors in defence, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital and technologies.
Applications for all four sectors are now live and will close on 16 February 2026.
Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. Successful TECs will be appointed from April 2026.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a programme to subsidise domestic electric battery manufacturing.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The battery sector currently employs 10,500 people across the UK and is one of the frontier industries highlighted in our Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan.
The Government recently made the UK's largest single commitment to battery R&D and commercialisation of £452 million to 2030 in the new Battery Innovation Programme (BIP).
BIP targets technical skills gaps to develop engineers and scientists of the future, connects academic researchers with UK industry, and funds investor partnerships that improve access to investment for innovative battery companies ready to commercialise and scale in the UK.
This sits alongside DRIVE35, our long-term £2.5 billion commitment to zero emission vehicle manufacturing which provides capital support and additional R&D funding for strategic vehicle technologies, like batteries, accelerating their commercial scale-up.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on increasing skills via apprenticeships, technical colleges and regional training programmes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is transforming apprenticeships into a new growth and skills offer, providing greater flexibility for employers and learners while supporting the industrial strategy. In August, new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors and shorter-duration options were introduced to help more people gain high-quality skills and drive business innovation.
The government has also launched 10 construction technical excellence colleges (TECs) and will expand the programme to clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, and defence. Selection for these TECs begins by the end of 2025, with delivery from April 2026.
Providers nationwide are funded to develop training aligned with local needs. In 2025/26, 67% of the £1.44 billion adult skills fund was devolved to 13 strategic authorities for locally tailored provision.
Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) unite employers, educators, and leaders to match local skills provision to demand. The Business West Chamber of Commerce leads the West of England and North Somerset LSIP.