Lord Taylor of Warwick

This Government is focussed on harnessing the creativity and brilliance of every woman in our country, and that includes ensuring they are able to access high paying sectors and roles. There is a wide array of work across Government which contributes to realising this ambition, whether that is by supporting start-ups, female entrepreneurs, or getting more women into, or returning to, highly-paid STEM careers.

In terms of work focussed solely on this issue, the Government continues to support the FTSE Women Leaders Review. This business-led framework sets targets to support talented, diverse leadership in the UK’s top companies.

Additionally, our Invest in Women Taskforce, is ensuring women-led start ups get the funding they need. The Taskforce is establishing a funding pool of more than £250 million for female-founded businesses through private capital, making it one of the world’s largest investment funding pools aimed solely at female founders.

The King’s Speech announced our intention to publish draft legislation this session that will introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for large employers (those with 250 or more employees). This will help businesses to identify and close ethnicity pay gaps within their workforces.

The UK Biological Security Strategy sets out the vision that, by 2030, the UK is resilient to a spectrum of biological risks and a world leader in responsible innovation. This vision seeks to harness the transformative role that artificial intelligence will play across the life sciences whilst recognising the dual-use risk that such frontier technologies can pose.

That is why earlier this year, the Ministry of Defence announced an investment of £115 million to raise the UK’s defences against the threats from AI, including using AI to improve our biological security and mitigate risks posed by autonomous AI agents. This is alongside investment of over £1.83 billion to establish a Network of National Biosecurity Centres, including £1 billion in Weybridge, £580 million in Dstl Porton Down, and £250 million over this Parliament in Harwell to bolster defences against biological incidents, accidents and attacks.

Through the AI Security Institute, HMG works proactively with frontier laboratories to test the capability of models and advise them on where safeguards can, and should, be strengthened to prevent risks emerging.

The Government takes the risks from advanced AI extremely seriously, and recognises the importance of ensuring our approach keeps pace with a rapidly evolving technology.

That is why the AI Security Institute has moved to the Cabinet Office, bringing our world-leading capability on AI safety and security into the centre of Government. Its work continues uninterrupted.

The government is ensuring that the UK is ready for both the challenges and opportunities that AI will bring. We have taken important steps to ensure that most AI systems are already regulated at the point of use by our existing expert regulators. This is both through sector-specific regulations such as medicines regulation, and cross-cutting legal safeguards including data protection, competition, product safety, and equalities laws.

The government has been clear that we will legislate where needed but will do so based on evidence where gaps have been identified. The government will act where these laws are not enough to ensure AI security. We are exploring whether additional protections are needed.

The UK is one of the best destinations globally for investment in artificial intelligence start-up companies. In 2024 the UK’s AI sector generated £24 billion pounds worth of revenue while at the same time employing around 86,000 people. According to the Stanford AI Index, in 2025 the UK produced the second most AI startups globally, while also attracting the third highest levels of AI private investment. In April we also launched our Sovereign AI Fund, backed by up to £500 million, which will provide targeted Government support for high-potential UK start-ups and scaleups in areas of strategic national interest.

The Government has taken significant action to respond to threats posed to the UK from hostile state actors.

The Resilience Action Plan (RAP), published in July 2025, establishes an ‘all hazards approach’ to national resilience, with specific pledges to improve cyber resilience within our CNI. The Government works closely with public and private sector operators to manage cyber risk and minimise the impact of incidents.

The National Cyber Action Plan will be published shortly, setting out concrete actions for the government to take alongside businesses to tackle the growing threat and strengthen our collective resilience.

Under the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021, the Government retains powers to intervene in investments that pose risks to national security. The Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan sets out the full range of actions HMG is taking to strengthen our legislation, help those who work in politics to recognise, resist and report the threat, as well as delivering disruptive action against proxy organisations.

As outlined in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, this Government is committed to supporting growth of the UK AI sector. This commitment is underpinned by the establishment of 5 AI Growth Zones across the UK, which provide the sovereign processing power and the required energy security for homegrown firms to scale and secure our national digital resilience.

Furthermore, the Government will publish new guidance for central government organisations procuring from the AI, steel, shipbuilding and energy infrastructure sectors regarding the appropriate use of national security exemptions. This will help to ensure we maintain sovereign supply chain resilience when it is a critical factor in supporting national security.

Access to accurate and impartial statistics and data is fundamental to a thriving democracy. Earlier this year, the Cabinet Office and the UK Statistics Authority commissioned a review on the performance and culture of the Office of National Statistics (ONS) after concerns were raised about the quality of our economic statistics.

The Devereux Review, the Cabinet Office and UKSA Board's official response to the Devereux Review, and the ONS’ plan for improving their economic statistics were published in June and are available on both the Cabinet Office and UK Statistics Authority websites.

Cabinet Office and HM Treasury are now working closely with ONS to progress the recommendations of the Devereux Review to enhance the quality of our data.

A new post of Permanent Secretary of the ONS has been created and filled, and a new Director General overseeing economic statistics has been appointed. The ONS is undergoing a prioritisation exercise which is focusing its resources on its core remit of producing economic, population and migration statistics. Progress is being tracked through regular meetings between Cabinet Office and the ONS.

The Cabinet Office is also clarifying the accountability and oversight arrangements of the UK Statistics Authority and ONS. The impartiality and operational autonomy of the UK Statistics Authority and ONS is essential for public trust and confidence in our official statistics, but the department must be accountable to both HM Government and Parliament for their performance and the quality of the data they produce. This relationship will be set out in a new Framework Document which will be published soon.

The National Security Strategy concluded that state-sponsored cyberattacks represent a persistent and intensifying threat to the UK’s national security, with hostile actors using cyber operations to undermine our democratic institutions, economic stability and critical infrastructure.

The Government is taking decisive action to counter this threat by strengthening the UK’s cyber resilience, expanding the capabilities of the National Cyber Security Centre, the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Force, and introducing the Cyber Security Resilience Bill to enhance protections for critical national infrastructure. We are also deepening cooperation with international partners to deter hostile activity and respond collectively to malicious cyber operations.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

Emma Rourke | Acting National Statistician

The Lord Taylor of Warwick

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

14 July 2025

Dear Lord Taylor of Warwick,

As Acting National Statistician, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of changes in the age at which adults are able (1) to buy a house, (2) to have children and (3) to get married, due to the financial strain of these milestones (HL9248).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not make any direct assessment of the extent to which financial strain impacts the age that people buy a house, have children or get married.

The ONS does publish the average age for different types of house buyers, including first time buyers, for years from 1990 to 2023, available in our House Price Data: annual tables - Table 37[1], and based on a sample of the Regulated Mortgage Survey.

In addition, the ONS has published Milestones: journeying through modern life[2] which includes information on age at which people buy a home, first marriage and age of first time mothers.

To assess the changing age of purchasers buying homes, people most commonly use the English Housing Survey, conducted by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). This includes analysis of change over time[3].

Yours sincerely,

Emma Rourke

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/housepriceindexannualtables2039

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/milestonesjourneyingthroughmodernlife/2024-04-08

[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/chapters-for-english-housing-survey-2023-to-2024-headline-findings-on-demographics-and-household-resilience/chapter-3-housing-history-and-future-housing

The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016, and this government respects that result. This government has closed deals in the national interest with the USA, India and the EU as an independent, sovereign nation.

The renewed agenda we have agreed with the EU looks to build upon the 2020 Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The 2025 agreement covers a wide range of areas such as energy cooperation, SPS and a security and defence partnership. This package delivers for the British people, without compromising on our red lines - no return to the customs union, no return to freedom of movement and no re-joining the single market.

The Government is working tirelessly to improve the cyber resilience of the UK’s critical infrastructure. We published the Cyber Security and Resilience policy statement on April 1, which set out our plans for the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill. It will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences and ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that UK citizens and businesses rely on are secure.

We welcome the findings of the recent National Audit Office report on Government Cyber Resilience, which highlight the need for an accelerated response. We are taking immediate steps to address its recommendations, including developing a cross-government implementation plan for the 2030 target and a new model to clarify and enforce cyber resilience responsibilities. We have published the Cyber Policy Handbook and the Secure by Design Framework to embed best practice throughout the UK’s public services. We are using GovAssure to define clear cyber resilience outcomes and develop an objective view of cyber resilience across the government technology estate.

Our commitment to improving the UK’s cyber resilience includes our engagement with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The NCSC engages with government, regulators and critical national infrastructure (CNI) operators to improve the cyber security and resilience of CNI, this includes: supporting them to raise their security baseline, improving their understanding the cyber risks they need to manage, such as the Cyber Assessment Framework, and helping them prepare for how they would respond to an incident or a period of heightened risk, leveraging GCHQ expertise.

The NCSC coordinates the government response to significant incidents. In the event of a severe national cyber incident the Cabinet Office activates COBR for enhanced coordination.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Lord Taylor of Warwick

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

1 May 2025

Dear Lord Taylor of Warwick,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the level of overseas demand for UK goods in April, and the consequential impact on private sector output (HL6970).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK trade in goods data is currently available up to February 2025[1]. March data will be published on 15 May 2025, while April data will be published on 12 June 2025.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/uktrade/february2025

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Lord Taylor of Warwick

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

31 March 2025

Dear Lord Taylor,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what steps have been taken to ensure access to accurate and up-to-date statistics, following reports of delays and mistakes in releases of data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) (HL6081).

In recent months, as part of routine quality assurance, the ONS identified issues with some of our statistical outputs, resulting in a small number of publications being delayed. Prioritising quality in our statistics is at the forefront of what we do. As such, we are consistently improving systems, investing in quality assurance, and undertaking vital transformation programmes. Further steps to ensure quality in our statistics will be communicated in our 2025/26 Strategic Business Plan. In early April, we will also be publishing our new survey strategy. This will build upon our existing surveys recovery plan, and will chart the pathway to a robust, sustainable survey system that can deliver the critical data required by Government and other key stakeholders.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Mission-driven government means a focus on ambitious, long-term goals that require coordination and partnership across government and wider society. This a refocusing of the state onto active delivery across departmental boundaries. The Mission Delivery Unit in my departments works to ensure that all parts of government work together to deliver the Plan for Change.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the noble Lord Taylor of Warwick’s Parliamentary Question of 10/02/25 is below and attached.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Lord Taylor of Warwick

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

19 February 2025

Dear Lord Taylor of Warwick,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what steps the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are taking to ensure that UK’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) is providing correct and current data. (HL4910).

In my previous letter to you in February 2024 (HL2453) I included details on the comprehensive recovery plan[1] rolled out by the ONS in the last quarter of 2023 to improve the GB sample of the LFS. Since that letter, we have seen the implementation of further measures[2] introduced in the second half of 2024 to ensure the continued sustainability of the LFS.

These measures cover a combination of improvements to both data collection and methods which help make the survey estimates more representative of the UK population. We have continued measures introduced under the 2023 recovery plan, such as the reintroduction of in-home interviewing, the increased incentive, and the sample boost. We have also recruited and trained additional interviewers to increase the resource assigned to LFS. Interviewers were previously focused primarily on the wave 1 sample of the survey, with waves 2-5 being picked up by field interviewers as a lower priority. Since our letter to the Treasury Select Committee in December 2024[3], which included detail on our planned interviewer up-lift, we have increased the number of interviewers working on waves 2-5 by 50 so far.

As part of our continued efforts to make the survey estimates more representative, the ONS have reweighted[4] the LFS data periods back to 2019 using more recent population information published in January 2024. This reweighting exercise resulted in increased levels’ estimates across most of the labour market series, with rates and averages seeing little change, and reduced the gap between the LFS employment data and payroll estimates of the number of employees. This partial reweighting exercise has also been extended to the two-quarter longitudinal outputs, which we released on 18 February 2025. Further work is under way looking at the implementation of a more comprehensive full reweighting of our data when new population projections are released later this year.

There are ongoing work streams aiming to understand the statistical quality, such as attrition, mode effects and bias in the longitudinal and cross-sectional samples. In addition, we are conducting a number of research projects exploring our approaches to communication with respondents and the incentives to participate in our surveys. These projects will also help us to understand how we can optimise the response to our surveys. As part of our agreed user and methods assurance, we continue to engage with our Stakeholder Advisory Panel and external methods advisors, Ray Chambers and James Brown, to discuss and invite feedback on all work stream developments.

To date, the aforementioned sustainability improvements have had a positive impact. In July to September 2023, the quarterly LFS data included 44,238 individual responses across the UK[5]. By the October to December 2024 quarter this had increased to 63,069 individual responses for the UK[6]. With the additional interviewer resource enhancing our data collection efforts over coming months, we expect the achieved sample and dataset size and its representativeness to improve further.

As we expect to continue seeing higher volatility in LFS data in the short term than might have historically been expected, we continue to advise users to apply caution when observing changes in the survey-based estimates. Users should also consider the commentary we publish alongside our statistical bulletins, as well as consulting the wider range of labour market data we publish when forming a view on the labour market.

In summary, progress has been made in recovering the LFS with the achieved sample now significantly higher and the incorporation of the latest population information into the estimates. The major changes we have made to the LFS will be fully included through all five survey waves by the first quarter of next year, which will inform the LFS estimates for publication in May 2025.

While we are working hard to improve our LFS-based data, our long-term solution for collecting labour market data is delivery of the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS). We conducted a range of tests towards end of 2024, investigating the effects of a shortened questionnaire and specific changes to the content. We are planning to up-date users on the next steps in Spring 2025.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1] Labour Force Survey: planned improvements and its reintroduction, ONS article, 2 November 2023,
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyplannedimprovementsanditsreintroduction

[2] Labour market transformation – update on progress and plans: December 2024, ONS article, 3 December 024, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/labourmarkettransformationupdateonprogressandplans/december2024

[3] UKSA Response to the Treasury Select Committee, UKSA letter, 3 December 2024,

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/45859/documents/227537/default/

[4] Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators: December 2024, ONS article, 3 December 2024,
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/impactofreweightingonlabourforcesurveykeyindicators/latest

[5] Labour Force Survey performance and quality monitoring report: July to September 2023, ONS article, 14 November 2023, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyperformanceandqualitymonitoringreportjulytoseptember2023

[6] Labour Force Survey performance and quality monitoring report: October to December 2024, ONS article, 18 February 2025, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyperformanceandqualitymonitoringreportoctobertodecember2024

The Government has been delivering successful cyber programmes for many years.

We bring new talent into His Majesty’s government with our apprenticeship and graduate schemes and a new Government Cyber Skills Academy.

We attract cyber experts into Government with our new Cyber Resourcing Hub which is working to engage with talent pools and support recruiting line managers. The Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance also gives flexibility for departments to offer higher pay for hard-to-recruit-to roles.

This government is committed to ensuring departments consider overall value for money in resourcing decisions.

To this end, it has introduced a 2% target for reduction to administration budgets in financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26 and a stop to all non-essential spending on consultancy, with an aim to halve spending in future years.

As set out in the Budget, the government has committed to developing a long-term strategic plan for a more efficient and effective Civil Service, including bold options to improve skills, harness digital technology and drive better outcomes for public services.

Decisions relating to the size and cost of the Civil Service workforce will be considered as part of the Spending Review process. HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office will work closely with departments to develop plans that achieve the government’s reform objectives for the Civil Service.

The Government is committed to a strategic plan for the Civil Service which supports improved productivity and drives innovation.

In a speech on 9 December, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster set out the Government’s plans for public sector reform. Phase 2 of the Spending Review will also include a focus on how departments can support innovation and boost productivity in the Civil Service.

The Windsor Framework provides a wide range support for business between GB and NI.

The UK Internal Market Scheme already enables businesses to move goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without being subject to customs duties. This is being expanded into the full UK internal market system which will further simplify the movement of goods for businesses.

There will be a competitive procurement exercise for provision of the Trader Support Service, which provides free support and guidance to businesses, to ensure continuity of service from 2026 onwards, and the current service has been extended to the end of 2025.

Last week, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster delivered a speech to the NATO Cyber Defence Conference in which he set out the Government's commitment to strengthening cyber resilience. We continue to work closely with allies to expose cyber attackers from across the world, whether that’s through public attributions, calling out hostile actors, or through sanctions. And we are constantly looking at where we can bolster our own digital defences here in the UK. In the King’s Speech, we announced that the Government would bring forward a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences, and, working with industry, help make the UK the safest place to live and work online.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster also announced a new Laboratory for AI Security Research at the University of Oxford (LASR), backed by £8.2 million of funding from the government’s Integrated Security Fund. The lab will bring together experts from government, industry and academia to seize the national security and economic opportunities of secure AI, underlining our commitment to stay one step ahead in this new AI arms race.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Lord Taylor of Warwick

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

14 October 2024

Dear Lord Taylor,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the levels of small businesses closing since (1) the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) the UK’s departure from the EU (HL1421).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces an annual Business Demography, UK publication1. The data are produced from the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR) which contains all businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE. Unfortunately, the numbers of business deaths shown in this release are not broken down by size band, so it is not possible to show the number of small businesses which have closed down since the start of the pandemic.

However, we have provided figures in Table 1 showing the total number of business deaths since 2020. The latest annual figures available are for the year 2022. As the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was in March 2020 and the UK’s departure from the EU was on 31 January 2020 it is possible to cover the two periods using the same data.

The ONS also produces a quarterly publication on business births and deaths2. The quarterly figures are useful because they provide up-to-date business demography estimates. Please note though that the figures are regarded as ‘Official Statistics in Development’ and should be considered as less reliable than the annual business demography numbers.

We have provided, in Table 2, the number of business deaths, by quarter, from the first quarter of 2020 until the second quarter of 2024. We do not have these figures available by sizeband and hence are not able to show the number of small businesses which have closed over this period.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

1https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/business

demography/previousReleases

2https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/business

demographyquarterlyexperimentalstatisticsuk/latest

Table 1: The total number of business deaths, annually, from 2020 until 2022, UK.

Source: Annual Business Demography, Inter Departmental Business Register

Table 2: The number of business deaths, by quarter, from the first quarter of 2020 until

the second quarter of 2024, UK3

Source: Quarterly Business Demography, Inter Departmental Business Register

3Quarterly business demography estimates are regarded as official statistics in development.

Quarterly estimates, when summed over a year, do not add to the annual estimates obtained from the annual business demography output.

My Rt Hon Friends the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade are responsible for this Government’s priority of growth and advancing opportunities for investment across the country.

The Government is supporting the growth of the UK semiconductor sector, including the development of hardware-based cyber security technologies, through support across innovation, skills, procurement and investment. The £1.1 billion AI Hardware Plan includes an £18 million Hardware Security R&D Programme to strengthen the secure deployment and scaling of AI hardware. The Government is also supporting UK strengths in secure-by-design technologies, including the commercialisation of CHERI. Alongside this, the Government is investing £80 million in semiconductor and AI hardware skills, expanding training and career pathways to help build the pipeline of engineers and researchers needed for companies to develop these technologies.

The Government is supporting businesses to adopt AI in ways that boost productivity and create opportunities for workers.

In June, we launched the Pro-Worker AI Adoption Prize, recognising organisations that use AI to raise productivity, equip workers with new capabilities and create jobs. Through AI Skills Boost, we are providing free AI training and will help 10 million workers gain essential AI skills by 2030. The Early Careers Jobs Alliance will support continued access to high-quality opportunities for young people.

We are also strengthening evidence on AI’s labour market impacts through the AI Economics Institute, monitoring effects on jobs and skills.

The Government is supporting the use of artificial intelligence and human-based laboratory models in medicines development through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy and wider work to accelerate AI adoption across the UK life sciences sector. This includes investment in AI-enabled tools, organ-on-a-chip systems, advanced cell and tissue models, and other human-relevant approaches to predict the safety and effectiveness of new medicines. We have invested £20 million in the Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub and up to £2 million through Innovate UK to support innovative technologies, including AI tools and human tissue models. The Government has also appointed an AI Champion for the life sciences sector and is taking forward the AI Opportunities Action Plan to support the development, adoption and responsible use of AI technologies, alongside work to support their validation and regulatory uptake through the UK Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods.

The Government is working to build domestic capability in AI where the UK has strengths; collaborate with trusted partners where this increases UK access and influence; and secure access to frontier capabilities where this is essential. We have taken significant steps to build sovereign capability through establishing the £500m Sovereign AI Fund to support UK AI companies; provision of compute via the AI Research Resource; establishing AI Growth Zones to build data centres; and the £1.1bn AI Hardware Plan to build out critical capabilities in key parts of the AI value chain.

The UK is one of the best places in the world to start and grow an AI company: in 2025 we produced the second most AI start-ups globally and attracted the third highest levels of AI private investment. The financial services sector is adopting AI faster than the economy as a whole; 21% of firms, against 16% across all sectors. Through our Sovereign AI Fund, backed by up to £500 million, we invest directly in high-potential British start-ups, give them access to compute through the AI Research Resource, and provide grants through Innovate UK's £130 million Growth Catalyst.

The Government’s ambition is for the UK to be the fastest adopter of AI in the G7, helping to unlock growth and productivity across the economy, and support new opportunities for workers. We have committed over £200 million to help UK businesses adopt AI so they can realise this opportunity and are working with industry, including through the appointment of AI Champions in key Industrial Strategy sectors, Innovate UK’s BridgeAI programme which supports companies in areas of high growth potential which are currently low adopters of AI, and the AI Skills Boost initiative to upskill 10 million workers by 2030.

The Government recognises that growth in AI and data centres is increasing electricity demand and that grid connection delays are a major barrier to new capacity in the UK.

To address this, the Government is reforming the connections process to better support strategically important demand, including data centres. Working with DESNZ, Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator, reforms will reduce delays, limit speculative applications and prioritise viable projects, helping unlock capacity faster while maintaining security of supply. Through the AI Energy Council, we are exploring a resilient, sustainable and scalable solution.

AI presents significant opportunities to boost productivity, raise living standards and support growth.

That’s why we have launched the AI Economics Institute, bringing together economic research and policy expertise, to build the evidence base on how AI is affecting jobs, skills and productivity.

We are also currently consulting on Workplace Monitoring Technologies to help ensure that these technologies are used in a way that is fair and transparent while ensuring that rights and protections keep pace with technological change. The consultation closes 30 September.