Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of defence technology start-ups that have been established in the UK since 2010; and what steps he is taking to support the establishment of defence technology start-up companies.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not hold data on the exact number of defence start-up companies. In 2021-22 MOD spent £5.715 billion with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) directly and indirectly, which represents an increase from £4.488 billion in 2020-21. We continue to work closely with defence SMEs through the multiple initiatives outlined in the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy and SME Action Plan.
Our support to SMEs includes Defence Innovation Loans made available by the Defence and Security Accelerator, DASA, to help SMEs commercialise mature defence solutions; seven loans have been awarded since 2021, totalling £5.3 million. Also, since 2010, MOD’s Ploughshare Innovations Ltd has supported 5 new start-ups spun out from government intellectual property. The Ploughshare Accelerator Fund enables start-ups to secure development funding to bring revolutionary technologies to market. And the Defence science and technology laboratory’s Newcastle site supports defence technology start-up companies in the region through its AI and data science related research.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Musician's Union publication entitled 'Musicians' Census', published on 11 September 2023.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government is committed to maximising the potential of the UK music industry and its musicians.
We continue to regularly engage with industry and organisations, including the Musicians Union, to understand the challenges facing musicians, including those identified in the ‘Musicians’ Census’.
The Government has taken action to address these challenges, by supporting growth in the sector and creating more opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to pursue a career in music.
This includes working with the Department for Business and Trade to support UK musicians to successfully export to international markets through initiatives such as the International Showcase Fund and the Music Export Growth Scheme. Additionally, we are committed to protecting creatives through our world-leading copyright and intellectual property laws, and the Government is also establishing an industry working group to discuss issues around creator remuneration.
We are also taking action to support young talent to pursue a career in music. In June 2021 we published the National Plan for Music Education, setting out ambitions to increase music opportunities for all children and young people, regardless of circumstance and needs. Grassroots venues are also vital to supporting the talent pipeline, which is why we committed to providing an additional £5 million of funding to support grassroots music venues over two years.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much the Intellectual Property Office spent on equality and diversity training in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Paul Scully
On 2 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a value for money audit of all EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) spending in the Civil Service.
The audit will dovetail with the public sector productivity review, aiming at delivering a leaner, more efficient government. The audit forms part of our drive to improve productivity across the public sector by driving down waste and improving performance.
The findings and actions of the audit will be announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to invite representatives from creative industries to the London AI Summit.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK believes that the dangers of frontier AI risks are increasingly urgent. This includes risks such as biosecurity and cybersecurity, including from the potential misuse of models by non-state actors. This will be the focus of the AI Safety Summit and the invitee list will reflect this theme. The Government is working on wider AI-related risks including those associated with the creative industries through the Creative Industries Sector Vision and via work with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to get the balance right in supporting Government’s ambitions on AI innovation without critically undermining value for rights holders.
The government set out its ambitions for the Summit in greater detail at the start of September, and we look forward to sharing more details in due course.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to issue a waiver to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in the context of the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with the Republic of India.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In negotiations with India, as with all our trading partners, the UK’s approach to intellectual property (IP) is to strike a balance between rewarding research, innovation and creativity, which can benefit all countries, whilst ensuring that medicines remain affordable and reflecting wider public interests, such as access to and use of IP on reasonable terms.
The UK considers the TRIPS Agreement as an essential tool to achieve this balance, including our support for flexibilities enshrined in the Agreement.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate she has made of the cost to UK companies of intellectual property and patent (a) theft and (b) fraud from December 2019 to December 2022.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government takes the issue of IP crime and infringement seriously and is working with industry and law enforcement agencies on initiatives to tackle this issue. The UK Intellectual Property Office supports the Police IP Crime Unit, and last year they successfully completed operations at retail outlets and online, seizing dangerous counterfeit goods.
The Intellectual Property Office is working closely with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to estimate the cost of counterfeiting to the UK economy. This OECD report estimated that fake goods imported to the UK were worth GBP 13.6 billion in 2016. This report is currently being updated and is due to be published in 2024.
Asked by: John Cryer (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that online platforms [operating in the UK] provide (a) cost- and (b) time-efficient takedown processes for [(a) designers and (b) other content creators] whose copyrighted (a) designs and (b) other products have been infringed on their platforms.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK approaches the challenge of tackling online IP infringement in an integrated manner through enforcement and public education. There is in place a number of criminal, civil, administrative and voluntary initiatives which provide rights holders and law enforcement with a package of measures to use to tackle online infringement. These vary from relatively non-intrusive such as notice and takedown, to domain removal, website blocking via court orders, police intervention, and more intrusive initiatives such as notifications being sent to repeat infringers.
The IPO has published guidance on how rights holders can protect their intellectual property on e-commerce stores, such as Amazon and eBay.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 help prevent states from accessing the UK science and technology base’s (a) intellectual property and (b) research through unauthorised and illegal means.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government wants to enable collaborative research, while ensuring our science and technology base is protected. Government has strengthened support to the research sector considerably in recent years, including launching the National Protective Security Authority's Trusted Research campaign. The Department also provides the Research Collaboration Advice Team, which gives advice to research institutions to help them manage national security risks in international collaboration. Government has a comprehensive package of legislative measures in place - including the National Security and Investment Act and Export Controls - to manage risk in this area. We keep all our measures under review and will strengthen these where necessary.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department had discussions with its counterparts in the EU on the impact of standard essential patents on the economies of the (a) UK and (b) EU in the period between 1 January 2022 and 30 June 2023; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government believes that Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) will be of growing importance to the UK economy.
In August 2022, the Government published a Summary of Responses relating to its call for views on SEPs and innovation, and more recently in July 2023 the Intellectual Property Office published findings following a questionnaire aimed at SMEs relating to their experiences around licensing of SEPs. During the Government’s ongoing policy development, it has engaged with relevant industry and international partners, including the EU, and will continue to do so on areas of mutual interest.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent estimate she has made of when the Intellectual Property Office will publish its code of conduct on copyright and artificial intelligence.
Answered by George Freeman
The working group on copyright and AI has asked the Intellectual Property Office for more time to prepare a draft code of practice. A progress update will be published on GOV.UK shortly.