Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the AI Security Institute has access to frontier artificial intelligence models for pre-release safety testing.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) has built trusted, voluntary relationships with the world's leading AI labs. This collaboration lets us keep pace with a fast-moving technology and adapt as it evolves, and has allowed AISI to secure privileged access that has identified dozens of vulnerabilities that developers fixed before public release. AISI is in daily conversation with industry partners and works closely with allies and partners around the world on the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote greater professional responsibility among those developing artificial intelligence systems capable of operating with increasing autonomy.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government takes these risks extremely seriously. It is a good thing that the companies developing the most advanced AI systems are now talking openly about the risks as well as the opportunities. The UK’s AI Security Institute is in daily conversation with industry partners on AI security and is working closely with allies and partners around the world on the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems. Further detail is provided in Written Statement UIN HCWS314 'Artificial intelligence update'.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enable UK technology start-ups to compete more effectively for public sector procurement contracts.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to supporting start-ups, and small and medium-sized enterprises to compete for public contracts.
Recent changes to streamline and simplify the Social Value model, which include raising the threshold at which it applies to £1m, will directly benefit SMEs and start-ups wishing to bid for government contracts.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the production of official statistics.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the Permanent Secretary for the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for establishing a dedicated regulator for advanced artificial intelligence models.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
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.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence to design or develop biological agents that could pose a risk to public health.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
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.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen the resilience of critical national infrastructure, democratic processes and supply chains against cyber and hybrid threats from hostile state actors.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
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.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the use of public sector procurement in supporting the growth of UK-based AI companies, and (2) the impact of that procurement on the development of domestic technology capabilities.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
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.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enhance data accuracy and accountability in the Office for National Statistics.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
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.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in cyberattacks by state actors, and what steps they are taking to protect against those attacks.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
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.