Asked by: Lord Nagaraju (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the global artificial intelligence principles and standards proposed by the Prime Minister at the United Nations General Assembly will include common approaches to the independent evaluation and testing of advanced artificial intelligence systems.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
On 22 September, the Prime Minister set out steps the UK is taking to ensure AI delivers on its vast potential for good. These include a commitment to work towards principles and standards so that the most capable AI systems are developed securely and with appropriate transparency.
The AI Security Institute (AISI) will play a key role in delivering that commitment, contributing its technical expertise, drawing on years of experience in evaluation, research and technical collaboration.
Through our role as coordinator of the International Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation, and Science (NAAIMES), the UK will also continue to coordinate the writing and publication of best practices for AI evaluation with partner governments, following on from Best Practice: Automated Evaluation of Large Language Models, published by the Network in 2026.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the UK expert clinical consensus statement on renal denervation published in Heart journal in November 2025 that found 93 per cent of surveyed UK clinicians support the NHS and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to update their respective commissioning policy and guidance, what plans they have to update current guidance to enable the routine commissioning of renal denervation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is reviewing the clinical evidence for the commissioning of renal denervation treatment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is an independent body with its own processes for reviewing and updating its guidance, taking account of the best available evidence of both clinical and cost effectiveness.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for establishing a reimbursement pathway for renal denervation as a treatment for resistant hypertension, given that it is approved and commercially available in a number of comparable healthcare systems internationally but is not routinely commissioned by the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is reviewing the clinical evidence for the commissioning of renal denervation treatment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is an independent body with its own processes for reviewing and updating its guidance, taking account of the best available evidence of both clinical and cost effectiveness.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the ongoing development of the NICE clinical knowledge summary on prostate cancer includes advice for general practitioners on discussing prostate cancer risk with men in high-risk groups, including black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical knowledge summaries (CKS) are developed independently of the Government on the basis of the latest available evidence, but officials will continue to work with the developers of the prostate cancer CKS to ensure that they remain as helpful as possible for general practitioners.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether the AI Opportunities Unit established in the former Department for Science, Innovation and Technology continues to exist.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
Responsibility for realising AI opportunities is now shared across government, with BIST leading on AI policy, data infrastructure including AI Growth Zones, AI research, innovation, hardware and compute, economy-wide AI adoption and workforce upskilling. DCMS leads on opportunities linked to wider digital infrastructure, delivery of digital and technology skills and public service foundations needed to support AI, such as data and public sector delivery via the Government Digital Service and incubator for AI (i.AI). We have established the new Cabinet Office AI Taskforce to direct the Government’s strategy on AI, including maximising public sector adoption opportunities. Other Government Departments are pursuing AI opportunities within their areas of policy and delivery responsibility.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether the Government plans to respond to the Pope’s encyclical, ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ on Artificial Intelligence.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Government continues to engage the Holy See regularly both bilaterally and through multilateral fora, including on artificial intelligence. As the Prime Minister said at UNGA, artificial intelligence will be at the heart of the UK’s G20 Presidency next year. The UK is also looking to work with partners towards establishing a single set of global principles and standards on AI. Our focus on international engagement on frontier AI risks is in recognition that any lasting solution will need to be developed and agreed collectively.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of interoperable digital patient records to improve patient access to GP appointments at practices other than their registered surgery.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Enlivio and TPP, which provide most general practice (GP) IT systems, already have the ability for clinicians to view patient information across different systems.
Anyone may register as a temporary patient with a GP surgery with which they are not registered and make appointments, for up to three months, for example, if away from home.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department plans to provide for NHS dentistry in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for National Health Service dentistry in 2027/28 will be considered as part of the forthcoming NHS planning process. Future funding decisions are subject to the usual Spending Review and wider fiscal processes.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Prime Minister has approved the Government's proposed designation of Heathrow expansion as Critical National Growth Infrastructure.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS) proposes designating Heathrow expansion as Critical National Growth Infrastructure, recognising its potential importance to national growth. We have consulted on this approach, and the Government will carefully consider the views received through the consultation, alongside the Transport Select Committee's recommendations, before setting out its response and any next steps in relation to the HENPS.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the proportion of liver cancer patients diagnosed through emergency presentation, including targeted case-finding in alcohol services and diabetes clinics.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 20 July in response to Question 17757.