Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase capability, transparency and value for money in public sector expenditure.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

This Government is committed to ensuring that every penny of public money is spent wisely, driving out low value spending and ensuring the state becomes more productive.

At Spending Review 2025, the Government announced that it would deliver total annual efficiency gains of almost £14 billion by 2028-29. It published departments’ efficiency targets and plans, allowing external scrutiny and public accountability.

At the Budget in November 2025, the Government committed to going further on efficiency and savings by delivering an additional £2.8 billion savings in 2028-29 and £5 billion by 2030-31. Alongside this, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury is leading a suite of reviews to drive value for money across government spending.

The Government has recently published an updated Green Book, the UK government guidance on appraisal and value for money. It has also started to publish business cases for major projects, meaning the public can be confident that taxpayers’ money is being spent on projects that deliver best possible value.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that energy system planning, infrastructure investment and net zero commitments are taken into consideration as part of the expansion of digital infrastructure.

Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government welcomes data infrastructure where it is powered by the grid, which is on the pathway to Clean Power 2030, or where it uses low-carbon behind-the-meter power.

Data centres can be positioned where surplus renewable power exists, supporting grid balance and reducing network constraints.

Government is launching a review led by the AI Champion for Clean Energy to assess opportunities, risks and enablers for using AI in grid planning and management, guiding coordinated and safe innovation.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of Gov.uk Chat in providing accurate information about public services; and what safeguards they plan to put in place to ensure that AI-driven responses to queries about public services are reliable and clear.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

GOV.UK Chat is being developed and tested to support users in accessing accurate and clear information about public services on GOV.UK. Its effectiveness is assessed through structured user testing and independent evaluation.

Robust safeguards are in place to ensure reliability and security. GOV.UK Chat answers are exclusively drawn from guidance published on the GOV.UK website. The team has worked with the AI Security Institute and Anthropic to implement guardrails to prevent malicious or inappropriate use, and to carry out red-teaming activity as further assurance.

During the October 2025 pilot, the system successfully prevented all attempted efforts to circumvent its safeguards. Testing and assurance activity will continue as the service develops, with accuracy, clarity and safety as core priorities

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of advances in AI and vehicle autonomy on the UK motor insurance market.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Officials in my department regularly engage with the insurance industry to ensure insurance products will be available in line with the deployment of automated vehicles.

The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 sets out the regulations for insurance requirements for automated vehicles specifically. Our recent call for evidence, launched in December 2025, seeks views on various aspects of the automated vehicles regulatory framework, which includes insurance. Responses received will support future consultation on the proposed regulations, with full implementation of the Act anticipated by the second half of 2027.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the work to fit tokenised collateral into existing financial market regulation frameworks; and what discussions they are having with the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England about ensuring those frameworks support innovation and financial stability.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Last July, the Government published the Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy, which sets out its commitment to establishing a regulatory and legislative framework that enables new digital solutions, such as tokenisation, to be taken forward.

The Strategy notes that current use cases demonstrate that English and Welsh law, alongside UK financial services legislation is, in many cases, sufficiently flexible to accommodate digital assets. However, the Strategy commits the Government to providing legal clarity where it is needed to accommodate distributed ledger technology and we are working closely with the financial services regulators to identify where such clarifications may be necessary.

As part of this, the Government has established the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS). This addresses priority areas where existing requirements can create barriers to adopting new technology. The DSS allows participating entities to be subject to modified legislative requirements, to facilitate new digital infrastructures in the UK market.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the data protection and confidentiality risks of the deployment of generative AI workplace tools in public sector bodies; and what guidance they have issued regarding the use of those tools in environments handling sensitive or personal data, including NHS organisations.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises that the deployment of generative artificial intelligence (AI) workplace tools across the public sector presents data protection, confidentiality, and security risks, particularly where these tools may process sensitive or personal data.

The Government has assessed these risks which are addressed within the Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government and the Generative AI Framework for UK Government, both published in February 2025.

The AI playbook makes clear that public sector organisations must comply with UK data protection law when using generative AI, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. It emphasises the need for data protection impact assessments, clear accountability, human oversight, and restrictions on the use of generative AI tools in environments handling sensitive or personal data unless appropriate safeguards are in place. The generative AI framework provides detailed guidance on privacy, security, and information governance, including data minimisation, purpose limitation, and preventing the disclosure of personal or confidential information through prompts or outputs.

Specific guidance has also been issued for health and care settings. NHS England has published information governance guidance on the use of AI, which has been reviewed by the Health and Care Information Governance Working Group, including the Information Commissioner's Office and National Data Guardian. This guidance addresses confidentiality, lawful processing, consent, and human oversight, and applies to NHS organisations considering or deploying AI technologies, including generative AI tools. NHS bodies are expected to operate within established information governance frameworks and, where appropriate, adopt local AI governance and acceptable use policies consistent with national guidance.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the integration of buy now pay later services into digital payment platforms; and what steps they are taking to ensure that consumer credit regulation and affordability safeguards remain effective for the use of those services.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government recognises that Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) products are increasingly embedded within digital payment platforms and are now widely offered to consumers at checkout. Millions of people across the UK have used BNPL products, which can help spread the cost of purchases. However, without regulation there are risks — particularly around unaffordable borrowing.

That is why, in July 2025, Parliament passed legislation to bring BNPL products within the scope of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation. The new regulatory regime will come into force this July and last month, the FCA published its final rules for BNPL lending.

Under these rules, BNPL providers will be required to carry out affordability checks as well as provide consumers with clear and upfront information about costs and repayment obligations. Consumers will also benefit from stronger rights, including access to the Financial Ombudsman Service and protection under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, making it easier to obtain refunds where purchases go wrong. These new rules will ensure that BNPL products remain a useful payment option while protecting consumers from harm.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the launch of the London Stock Exchange's private securities market under the private intermittent securities and capital exchange system framework; and what assessment they have made of the impact of that market on UK capital formation for high-growth technology businesses.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

In May 2025, the Government delivered legislation to establish the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES), which will support private firms to scale and grow.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has since approved two PISCES operators.

The Treasury and the FCA will jointly assess the efficacy of PISCES over the five-year sandbox period. Consideration will be given to the functioning of the legal and regulatory framework, as well as to the outcomes for market participants.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of adoption of digital and information technologies by businesses on productivity growth in the UK economy; and what steps they are taking to support the adoption of artificial intelligence to improve productivity.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As highlighted in His Majesty’s Government’s Technology Adoption Review, Historical trends indicate that technological innovations have significantly contributed to GDP growth, with emerging technologies, like AI, expected to drive substantial productivity gains in the coming years.

The Government is committed to realising these benefits. This includes working with industry to upskill 10 million workers with essential AI skills for work through our AI Skills Boost programme, and developing sector specific approaches to galvanise AI adoption in our growth-driving industrial strategy sectors by working with recently appointed AI sector champions. We are also ensuring AI adoption benefits local businesses, workers and communities through our recent announcement of Barnsley as the UK’s first Tech Town, and by delivering local skills and benefits packages in AI Growth Zones.