Department for Science, Information and Technology: Abolition

Lord Fox Excerpts

Tuesday 21st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Viscount is more than aware that the role of the Cabinet Office is to co-ordinate policy across government, hence the establishment of an AI taskforce to make that sure and to support the work of the new Minister. The Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet is being overseen directly by both the Prime Minister and the new First Secretary in the Government, while operational matters will be overseen by the Cabinet Secretary. This is about making sure that the Minister, who will obviously have responsibility for the co-ordination and ownership of AI policy, has the support he needs at the top levels of government.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Waldegrave, spoke about messages sent, and the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, spoke about concerns within the research community. Whatever the Minister thinks, does she accept that the response of the research community to this has been bad, and that it is upset and worried about the implications? Does she also accept that the Government have a big job to do in raising morale and explaining to the research community how this is going to work for it?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his question. I cite the new Prime Minister, who said that we will choose hope to build a fairer society. “Hope” is definitely the word of the day so, on that basis, I absolutely agree. The new Business Secretary was very clear on this morning’s “Today” programme that he will reach out to all parts of the science community to reassure them and make sure they understand that they will now be at the heart of government. That is why we have made these changes.