Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they have allocated to the AI Skills Portal; how many users have registered and completed a course through the Portal; what proportion of users are from priority groups identified as digitally excluded in the Digital Inclusion Action Plan and Call for Evidence responses; and what evaluation metrics are used to assess value for money.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The AI Skills Hub contract has received £4 million to cover a range of activities, including: building and maintaining the Hub, engagement and research to inform course curation and approach, ongoing outreach to drive uptake, gather feedback for improvement, and support business upskilling and AI adoption. As of 19 March 2026, there were 55,952 registered learners on the AI Skills Hub. The AI Skills Hub also hosts the AI Skills Boost programme, which in total has delivered over 1 million AI Upskilling courses since June 2025 in partnership with leading industry organisations.
Value for money will be assessed through a comprehensive framework that tracks delivery, outcomes and long-term economic impact. This includes metrics on user engagement, platform usage and training uptake alongside survey-based evidence of improved skills, employability and access to AI resources. It also measures productivity gains such as cost savings, time efficiencies and increased AI adoption within organisations.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many active users the GOV.UK App has, as of the most recent date for which data exists; what targets they have set for user growth in 2026-27; and what assessment they have made of the digital skills support required to increase uptake among digitally excluded groups.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As of 16 March 2026, the GOV.UK App has an estimated total of over 230,000 active users. Analytics tracking captures only those who opt in, so this figure is higher than the number of users providing consent. To date, approximately 135,000 users have consented to analytics tracking, averaging around 23,000 consented users per month.
While the Government has not set formal numerical targets for 2026–27, the strategic aim is to drive sustained growth by making the GOV.UK App the most convenient and trusted way for people to access government services. Growth is expected as new features and services are introduced, alongside improvements in personalisation and ongoing focus on user needs, in line with the Government Digital Service’s roadmap for modern digital government.
The Government is also committed to addressing digital exclusion. The GOV.UK App has been designed to be simple and accessible, informed by user research conducted during its public beta and in line with GOV.UK accessibility standards. Alongside this, the Government will continue to assess the digital skills support needed, including understanding barriers faced by digitally excluded groups and working with departments, local authorities and delivery partners to provide assisted digital support and signposting to digital skills training. Services will continue to be available through multiple channels, ensuring that those who are unable to use digital services can still access government support.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a further phase of the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund from April 2026; what budget has been allocated for any such phase; and when they will announce the outcome of any such phase.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund was designed as a one-year programme to understand what works in digital inclusion, and how best practice or innovative approaches can be scaled to maximise local impact across the UK.
We remain committed to building a digitally inclusive society where no one is left behind, and plans for future support for digital inclusion are still in development.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund’s November 2025 to March 2026 delivery window and payment-in-arrears model on application rates and project viability.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund is about testing new ideas, learning what works, and supporting the best approaches so they can grow and benefit more communities across the UK. The Fund received 1016 applications from organisations across the country, amounting to a total request of over £170m for the £11.9m available.
Payment-in-arrears is the standard Government approach for grants. However, we recognise some stakeholders were concerned about payments-in-arrears and the short delivery window of the Fund. These issues are considerations we are taking forward as we continue policy development in this area.
Despite this, projects are continuing to deliver important outcomes for the people they support, such as supporting people to access the internet and building their digital skills.
We have appointed external evaluators who are working with grant recipients to understand the impact of the Fund. This will also involve assessing the process, including grant management and deliverability within the timescale.
We expect to receive their report in April 2026.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of successful applications to the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund were from grassroots or voluntary sector organisations with an annual income of less than £1 million.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We know that digital inclusion works best when it's delivered in local places by trusted people and organisations. The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund is about backing local communities to close the digital divide, and grassroots organisations are fundamental to that process.
The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund had 85 successful applications in England: a mix of charities, research organisations and local and combined authorities.
Around 73% of the organisations funded by the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund are charities, many of which are local, grassroots voluntary organisations. We don't hold specific data on the annual income of organisations.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent on the development, testing, marketing and maintenance of the GOV.UK App to date, broken down by financial year.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The GOV.UK app is in public beta with expenditure met from within the overall budgets of the Government Digital Service (GDS) as part of the wider GOV.UK modernisation activity.
In 25/26 c.£6.2m has been attributed to GOV.UK app and related programme of personalisation and modernisation - this relates to spend on design, build, test and running. There has been no significant spend on marketing of the app, with less than £2k related to reaching private beta testing audiences.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the investment in vaccines for gingivitis or periodontitis by UK Research and Innovation.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Medical Research Council (MRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is not currently funding any research into vaccines for gingivitis or periodontitis. MRC invests more broadly in dental and oral health research, including some periodontitis research, to aid its detection and treatment.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of requiring the use of technology that does not yet exist, or function satisfactorily, in notices under section 121 of the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ofcom will set out what technology is required for a service to comply with a Technology Notice under section 121 of the Online Safety Act. That technology must be accredited as meeting minimum standards of accuracy. Ofcom’s consultation on the minimum standards of accuracy closed in March 2025 and the finalised version will be published in due course.
Where a tech solution does not exist in relation to a particular service design, Ofcom will be able to direct companies to use best endeavours to develop or source technology that deals with child sexual exploitation and abuse content.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they are ensuring that digital inclusion is a core consideration, where relevant, when updating existing or delivering new policies across all government departments.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Digital inclusion is a priority for this Government. It means ensuring that everyone has the access, skills, support and confidence to participate in our modern digital society, whatever their circumstances. Work is ongoing to develop our approach to tackling digital exclusion and coordinating across government departments continues to be a core part of this work. We hope to say more on this soon.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of projects arising from the Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge; and what plans they have to continue or expand upon these projects.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge funded eleven technologies in its first phase, all of which were completed successfully. Seven projects secured phase 2 funding to advance development of their technologies through testing with relevant populations. The UK Government’s Office for Life Sciences, in collaboration with the Chief Scientist Office in Scotland, is monitoring the progress of these projects and will provide guidance to support commercialisation, spread and UK-wide adoption of the technologies to prevent drug overdose deaths. Future funding and initiatives through the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme are being explored to further encourage innovative research and the development of novel technologies to treat drug and alcohol addictions.