Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to launch a call for evidence on the risks of artificial intelligence to trust in information, as proposed in their consultation outcome published 6 February.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the need to both unlock the opportunities and address the potential risks of artificial intelligence.
As outlined in the AI white paper consultation response, government will shortly publish a Call for Evidence on the impact of AI on trust in information, to develop our understanding of this fast moving and nascent area of technological development, including possible mitigations.
This work is part of our programme to seek a range of expert views – including from researchers, academics, and civil society organisations with relevant expertise.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current value of the Government's stake in Eutelsat OneWeb.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Eutelsat OneWeb is a UK-based subsidiary of Eutelsat Group. At close of trading on 26 April 2024, the market value of the UK Government’s shareholding in Eutelsat Group was approximately €201 million or £171 million.
The Government’s investment into OneWeb has already created or protected around 400 UK jobs and Eutelsat OneWeb continues to ramp up commercial operations, with an order book of approximately €700m according to the company’s public filings.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any additional equity or debt has been earmarked for further investment in Eutelsat OneWeb, following the Government's $500 million investment in 2020.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Eutelsat OneWeb is a UK-based subsidiary of Eutelsat Group. The Government has not earmarked any additional equity or debt for investment into Eutelsat Group.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will take steps to encourage broadband provider competition in Wigan.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Having a competitive fixed telecoms market has been integral to the government’s strategy to deliver nationwide coverage of gigabit-capable broadband. Competition keeps prices low and standards high for consumers, whilst encouraging companies to build quickly. In the 2018 Future Telecoms Infrastructure review and our 2019 Statement of Strategic Priorities to Ofcom, we brought forward proposals to make it easier for new firms to enter the market, such as granting competitors access to Openreach’s national duct and poles network.
Ofcom is responsible for regulating competition in the broadband market. In 2021, Ofcom published its Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review (WFTMR), which set out its decisions for regulation of the fixed telecoms market until 2026. The WFTMR makes explicit mention of the Government’s desire to support market entry and expansion by alternative network operators and is fulfilling this by, for example, providing competitors with effective access to Openreach’s ducts and poles.
Thanks to these measures to incentivise competition, there are now over 80 companies investing over £40bn to connect premises all over the UK. Gigabit coverage in Wigan constituency is currently at 92% (Think Broadband), which is up from just 1% in December 2019.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Camrose on 12 April (HL3677), what practical steps data subjects can use to verify that their personal data are being processed (1) in accordance with any consent they have granted, and (2) only insofar as is "necessary" for the intended purposes; how they can exercise their right to object; and whether all of these processes will remain in place following the passage of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill as currently drafted.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Data controllers should inform individuals of how they are going to use their personal data and set this out in their privacy notice. Individuals have a number of rights under the UK’s data protection framework, including the rights to access their personal data, to object to its processing and to rectification and erasure. If an individual is concerned about the handling of their personal data, they can contact the ICO for advice or to make a complaint.
These rights, along with core data protection principles, will continue to apply under the reforms within the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2024 to Question 902272 on Disinformation, how many information threats the Defending Democracy Taskforce has responded to.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In 2022 the Defending Democracy Taskforce, chaired by the Security Minister, was established to further drive forward work to protect the UK from the full range of threats facing our democratic institutions and processes, including interference with the UK democratic process. The Taskforce engages across government and with Parliament, the UK’s intelligence community, the devolved administrations, local authorities, the private sector, and civil society.
It would not be appropriate to comment publicly on the volume of information threats the departments which support the Taskforce team have responded to, in part because doing so would give malign actors insight into the scale of the UK’s capabilities to identify and tackle such threats to our democratic processes.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the United Kingdom and India collaborate on space programmes.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
India is a hugely important partner for the UK, not least because of its size, scale of ambition in science and technology. The UK and India collaborate on space programmes, for example the UK Space Agency is funding the development of an X-Ray imaging instrument, AXIS, in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled National semiconductor strategy, CP 838, published on 19 May 2023, what progress she has made on the UK Semiconductor Infrastructure Initiative.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We have made substantial progress since the launch of the National Semiconductor Strategy last year. We are on track to exceed our initial £200 million investment commitment for this spending review period, launched a semiconductor incubator Programme, ChipStart UK, and made ambitious agreements with partner countries.
The UK Semiconductor Infrastructure Initiative aims to make targeted intervention to ensure that our infrastructure environment boosts UK commercial innovation for start-ups/SMEs. This government is committed to delivering on its vision with its sector in collaboration with academia and industry, and we continue to engage extensively.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with UK-based companies on trends in the level of cyber security jobs moved abroad.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ministers engage regularly with UK cyber security companies to understand employment trends. This includes engagement through visits and forums such as the Cyber Growth Partnership and the National Cyber Advisory Board. The government's annual cyber security sectoral analysis reviews the growth and health of the sector, showing employment in the UK has risen each year since the government began publishing the data in 2018. Currently, the UK cyber security sector employs over 58,000 people, having generated an additional 5,300 jobs in the past year alone.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much funding her Department plans to provide to UK Research and Innovation in the next three financial years.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided to Question UIN 22712 on Monday 29th April.