Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of consumer protection legislation in relation to the use of artificially generated or enhanced images in residential property listings.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 protects consumers from unfair trading practices and prohibits traders, including estate agents, from omitting (or providing unclear, untimely or obscure) material information to consumers in any ‘invitation to purchase’.
The Act strengthens consumer law enforcement by giving the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new administrative powers, and the CMA and courts the ability to impose significant monetary penalties of up to 10% of turnover.
The CMA has issued updated guidance on price transparency and unfair commercial practices to help businesses comply.
In addition, since 1 October 2008 all estate agents in the UK who engage in residential estate agency work are required to belong to an approved redress scheme, either the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. This is a requirement of the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of consumer protection legislation in relation to the use of artificial intelligence to generate summaries of online reviews.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), online platforms must take reasonable steps to ensure consumer reviews on their sites are genuine. This includes AI-generated summaries which must accurately represent the overall consensus of genuine reviews. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published separate guidance for businesses that publish reviews to help meet their legal obligations.
Where traders do not comply with the law, the DMCCA has strengthened enforcement powers. It has given the CMA new administrative powers to enable them and the courts to impose significant monetary penalties.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for workforce management and employment practices of the increasing use of artificial intelligence agents in the workplace.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
AI has the potential to transform the workplace - changing some roles, creating new jobs and replacing others. The new AI Economics Institute will provide rigorous analysis of AI’s impacts on productivity, labour markets and growth to ensure policy is informed by real-world data and employer practice.
Alongside this, the Plan to Make Work Pay is strengthening the employment rights framework and placing worker voice at the heart of the digital transition. This includes a public consultation on workplace monitoring technologies to explore whether further measures are needed to support responsible adoption while enabling businesses to innovate with confidence.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the use of artificial intelligence in corporate decision-making for business accountability and governance.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have over the past two years published guidance and tools to help companies manage responsibly the risks and opportunities of using artificial intelligence (AI) in corporate decision-making. These include a Code of Practice specifically covering the cyber security of AI, and a Cyber Governance Code of Practice addressing the broader issue of integrating cyber risk management into wider enterprise risk management. The FRC has also recently published guidance for audit firms on the use of AI in audit. The Government and regulators continue to assess the uses of AI in business and more generally.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the Competition and Markets Authority’s powers to promote competition and innovation in digital markets, including markets involving artificial intelligence technologies.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government is committed to delivering a competitive and prosperous digital economy. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 strengthened the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) powers to promote competition and address entrenched market power in digital markets.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for competition and market access of the integration of AI tools into digital platforms; and what steps they are taking to ensure fair competition and effective regulation in digital markets.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to delivering a competitive and prosperous digital economy. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for assessing and addressing competition in digital markets. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act provides the CMA with powers to ensure the most powerful technology firms treat businesses and consumers fairly.
On 31 March the CMA announced a package of actions on business software and cloud services, in part to enable it to ensure a level playing field as AI is rapidly embedded into everyday business software tools.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks to the UK's supply chains of essential goods, including food, fuel and medicines, arising from the conflict in the Middle East; and what steps they are taking to strengthen resilience and contingency planning.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
DBT continuously assesses supply chain risks, mitigations, and potential interventions. The UK’s economic fundamentals remain strong. Supply of inputs and commodities remains stable and generally well diversified.
As the UK imports very low amounts of petrol, diesel and crude oil from the Middle East, we have not experienced supply issues. The Middle East is not a major source of UK food imports. Government does not currently expect any impact on food availability for consumers.
Government has already acted to strengthen UK economic resilience, including expanding the forthcoming British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) and restarting production at the Ensus plant.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the UK economy of the conflict in the Middle East, including impact on energy prices, trade and inflation; and what steps they are taking to ensure economic resilience.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
Government is closely monitoring the potential impact of disruption to trade and the wider economy. As with the conflict itself, there remains uncertainty about the scale and duration of the resulting economic and trade shock.
The UK has a diverse and resilient energy system, and Government has already taken action on energy prices, including allocating £50m for heating oil support for low‑income households and expanding the forthcoming British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS).
Rapid de-escalation in the Middle East remains the best way to protect the UK economy. Government continues to work internationally to support a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for competition and market access of the integration of generative AI tools into search engines; and what steps they are taking to ensure fair access for content providers and smaller firms in digital markets.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the UK’s independent competition authority and is responsible for operating the digital markets regime. It has designated Google with strategic market status in general search and search advertising services. Developments in generative AI were considered during the designation investigation. The CMA is now considering imposing conduct requirements to increase competition.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of AI in the fashion industry to reduce unsold inventory and improve supply chain efficiency; and what support is available to retailers to adopt such technology to enhance productivity and sustainability.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The fashion industry is increasingly using AI to improve demand forecasting, reduce unsold stock and increase supply chain efficiency, thereby supporting productivity and sustainability. Businesses can access support to adopt AI through programmes such as Made Smarter and Innovate UK, alongside wider productivity, digital adoption and skills initiatives, helping businesses invest in technologies that improve efficiency while reducing waste and environmental impact.
The government supports responsible and ethical AI adoption across our world leading creative industries, enabling organisations and freelancers to improve productivity, reach new audiences and develop new products and services.