Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to expand the advisory role of the AI Security Institute to include binding regulatory functions.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We are hugely optimistic that AI will improve the lives of British people – but the most advanced systems pose distinct opportunities and risks. The AI Security Institute is committed to rigorous, scientific research into the most serious emerging risks from AI – including cyber and chemical-biological risks, criminal misuse, and risks from autonomous systems.

Most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use by existing regulators. A range of rules already apply, including data protection, competition, equality legislation and other sectoral regulation. However, we are committed to ensuring the UK is prepared for the changes AI will bring.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for greater pricing transparency in the mobile and broadband sector, specifically regarding the practice where some deals are only accessible through a negotiation process at the end of a fixed-term contract.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government has not undertaken a specific assessment, however we engage stakeholders, including Citizens Advice, who conduct relevant research.

Government also works closely with Ofcom, the independent regulator of telecommunications, who have introduced a range of measures to increase pricing transparency. For example, since 2020 providers must issue end-of-contract notifications to warn customers when their current contract is ending, and what they could save by signing up to a new deal. In 2022, Ofcom introduced one-page contract summaries for new customers, ensuring clarity on key terms like price increases.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of current regulation of AI chatbots.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The government believes most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use. Generative AI services, including AI chatbots, which allow users to share content with one another or search live websites to provide search results, are regulated under the Online Safety Act. In-scope services are required to protect all users from illegal content and children from encountering harmful content, including where it is AI generated.

Responding to the AI Action Plan, the Government committed to work with regulators to boost their capabilities. We are committed to ensuring the UK is prepared for the changes which AI will bring.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce statutory safeguards to ensure that AI chatbots cannot be used to simulate sexual activity or scenarios involving children.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government is committed to tackling the atrocious harm of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The strongest protections in the Online Safety Act are for children – regulated services must remove illegal content and prevent children from encountering harmful content, including where it is AI generated.

We are committed to ensuring the UK is prepared for the changes AI will bring. The government has introduced an offence in the Crime and Policing Bill which criminalises possessing, creating or distributing AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the tackling violence against women and girls strategy.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government has been clear that the level of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable, and we are treating it as the national emergency that it is.

The new VAWG Strategy will set the direction for the next decade, driving forward the Government’s bold ambition to halve VAWG within ten years. This is a landmark commitment that demands a truly transformational approach.

We are working tirelessly across government to deliver a Strategy that will set out bold, concrete actions to prevent violence and abuse, pursue perpetrators and bring them to justice, and protect victims and survivors. It’s vital we get it right. We're working towards publication of the Strategy as soon as possible and I will continue to keep the House updated on its development and forthcoming publication.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to respond to the concerns of the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders about the treatment of environmental defenders in the UK.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK Government takes its obligations under the Aarhus Convention seriously and remains committed to engaging constructively with its mechanisms, including the rapid response mechanism and the work of the Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Convention.

The UK has responded to the Special Rapporteur. These responses are publicly available on the website of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to support NHS trusts and integrated care systems to trial and adopt drone technology for time-sensitive healthcare logistics, such as blood samples.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to innovation in drones and other growth sectors. Work is ongoing across the Government, including between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to support the safe and effective introduction of drones into healthcare logistics. The Future of Flight Programme, led by the Department for Transport and taking place across the Government, will deliver routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLS) drone use in the United Kingdom by 2027. As part of this programme, the Department for Transport, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the CAA continue to work closely together to unlock BVLS drone use cases for the National Health Service.

To enable NHS trusts and integrated care systems to trial and adopt drones, the Department of Health and Social Care works with organisations from across the Government such as Innovate UK, who have funded 20 projects exploring the use of drone technology to support a range of health and social care applications, with a total investment exceeding £20 million.

As part of the 2025/26 Future of Flight Programme, delivered by the Department for Transport, two new projects, namely Dragon’s Heart and London Health Bridge Growth, have been announced to advance the use of drones in healthcare logistics. Together, these projects will receive funding of £820,000.

The Department of Health and Social Care continuously reviews the available evidence surrounding the use of drones in medical logistics and is supportive of new trials to further build this evidence base, in particular regarding the benefits of the use of drones to deliver urgent medical supplies in remote and urban areas.

Enabling drones to safely operate to trial NHS services currently requires airspace segregation to ensure the safety of other crewed aircraft. This is a complex process, and the CAA and Department for Transport are working to simplify it as part of the Future of Flight Programme and the Airspace Modernisation Strategy while we work towards full airspace integration. Progress on this work is monitored through the Future of Flight Industry Group which is co-chaired by the Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the strength of UK supply chains for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, and what plans they have to reduce the UK’s reliance on overseas imports of hydrogen technologies for taxpayer-funded hydrogen projects.

Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The UK is optimally positioned to develop a thriving hydrogen economy, with many UK companies at the forefront of hydrogen technology advancement.

The Government announced a public finance offer for clean energy industries to crowd private investment into sustainable UK supply chains. This includes: a £1bn Clean Energy supply chain fund; £5.8bn for the National Wealth Fund to invest across this Parliament in clean industries including low-carbon hydrogen; and a £4bn British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative.

We will also work with projects to deliver events connecting developers and suppliers.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the export potential of the UK hydrogen and fuel cell technology sector by 2030, and what steps they are taking to support UK access into international markets.

Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

UK companies are at the forefront of the clean energy transition, and are already exporting their innovative technologies and world-renowned services to projects across the globe.

We are working hard to ensure UK hydrogen and fuel cell companies continue to capitalise on the opportunities of the global clean energy transition, and to access high value opportunities in international markets.

This includes working to remove trade barriers, as well as championing our world-leading hydrogen companies overseas.

We are also working with international governments to unlock opportunities in established and emerging markets, establishing international partnerships to support UK commercial collaborations.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the response to the call for evidence on options to bring the UK into compliance with its obligation under the access to justice provision of the Aarhus Convention, in particular with regard to environmental claims being "prohibitively expensive".

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The United Kingdom Government is committed to the effective implementation of all of its international obligations including those under the Aarhus Convention.

The Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services wrote to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee on 29 May 2025, setting out the approach we plan to take over the coming years to bring England and Wales into compliance with the access to justice provisions in article 9 of the Aarhus Convention. The Minister of Justice for Northern Ireland also shared a letter with the Committee on 30 May 2025, setting out her plans for Northern Ireland to reach compliance with these provisions. Both letters can be found on the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s website.

Our approach to England and Wales was informed by the Call for Evidence we conducted between 30 September 2024 and 9 December 2024. Our full response to that Call for Evidence will be published in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to bring the UK into compliance with the Aarhus Convention, and when they plan for that compliance to be achieved.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The United Kingdom Government is committed to the effective implementation of all of its international obligations including those under the Aarhus Convention.

The Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services wrote to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee on 29 May 2025, setting out the approach we plan to take over the coming years to bring England and Wales into compliance with the access to justice provisions in article 9 of the Aarhus Convention. The Minister of Justice for Northern Ireland also shared a letter with the Committee on 30 May 2025, setting out her plans for Northern Ireland to reach compliance with these provisions. Both letters can be found on the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s website.

Our approach to England and Wales was informed by the Call for Evidence we conducted between 30 September 2024 and 9 December 2024. Our full response to that Call for Evidence will be published in due course.

Found: Chair); Lord Bethell; Baroness Harris of Richmond; Lord Kerr of Kinlochard; Lord Pack; Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

Found: I thank the noble Baroness Hollins, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle