Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by UK Finance Generative AI in Action: Opportunities & Risk Management in Financial Services, published in January 2025, in regard to the financial services sector's ability to harness generative AI; and how this informs their workforce and regulatory priorities for the sector in 2026.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government believes that the safe adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by the financial services sector is a major strategic opportunity, with the potential to power growth across the UK. As part of the government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, the government is in the process of appointing Financial Services AI Champions to act as a catalyst for AI adoption and innovation in the sector. The government has also commissioned the Financial Services Skills Commission to produce a UK-wide report on how the skills system can drive growth and productivity in the financial services sector, by supporting adoption and innovation of disruptive technologies.
The government welcomes the work of industry bodies including UK Finance, and firms across the sector given their central role in supporting the ongoing transition to harness and adopt AI technologies, including generative AI.
The government also welcomes the technology positive approach of the FCA and the Bank of England to regulation, including through launching the AI Consortium and the FCA commitment to avoid additional requirements on firms when using AI, as outlined in Nikhil Rathi’s letter to the Prime Minister last year.
The government will continue to work closely with industry and consider research such as the report produced by UK Finance to inform our approach.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the UK AI sector following the acquisition of the British AI start-up Faculty by Accenture, including plans to retain and grow high-skill AI jobs domestically.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK has a great history of successful UK AI startups. Faculty is an excellent example of a UK startup running with its vision and succeeding on a global scale.
We want to ensure that this ecosystem continues to thrive and recently announced a comprehensive package of support. This includes the Advance Market Commitments in which Government will act as a first customer for promising UK start-ups who are building high-quality AI hardware products. The commitment is backed by up to £100 million of government support to give British startups the opportunity for a competitive edge and to win customers in a multibillion-dollar global market. Alongside this, we are investing in workforce readiness through initiatives such as the AI Skills Hub, partnerships to train 7.5 million workers, and expanded university programmes like Pioneer Fellowships and Sparck AI Scholarships to equip people with the skills needed to retain and grow high-value AI jobs in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the levels of AI adoption among UK fintech firms; and what steps they are taking to ensure that AI and fintech regulation remains proportionate and supportive of innovation.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy (“the Strategy”), the UK aims to be the world’s most technologically advanced global financial centre, and to remain a leading jurisdiction for Fintech firms to start-up, scale and list.
The UK has a long history as a powerhouse of financial services innovation. The Strategy set out a comprehensive package of reforms to maintain the UK’s global leadership in Fintech, and the sector attracted $3.6 billion of investment in 2025 - second only to the US. This drive to deliver innovation also includes the safe adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by the financial services sector, which the Government believes is a major strategic opportunity, with the potential to power growth across the UK.
As part of the Strategy, the Government is in the process of appointing Financial Services AI Champions to act as a catalyst for AI adoption and innovation in the sector. The Government has also commissioned the Financial Services Skills Commission to produce a UK-wide report on how the skills system can drive growth and productivity in FS by supporting adoption and innovation of disruptive technologies.
The Government welcomes the technology positive approach both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England take to regulation, including through launching the AI Consortium and the FCA’s commitment to avoid additional requirements on firms when using AI, as outlined in the letter from Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the FCA, to the Prime Minister last year.[1] Their pro-innovation stance will help to support the UK’s Fintechs in these fast-moving markets.
[1]This letter is available at the following link: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/correspondence/fca-letter-new-approach-support-growth.pdf
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support advanced AI roles and specialist technology skills in the UK financial services labour market.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Setting the UK’s financial services sector up with the skills and talent it needs is an important pillar of the Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy.
This is why the Economic Secretary commissioned the Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC) to produce a report on how the skills system can drive growth and productivity by supporting more effective adoption and innovation of AI and other disruptive technologies. The FSSC have committed to reporting back by the end of the year.
The Government also committed to support the development of a sector Skills Compact for financial services and aim to launch it in summer 2026. This will accelerate progress and ensure the sector have the skills to thrive in the future. It will set out targeted, meaningful and ambitious actions for signatories to address skills gaps.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - 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 the acquisition of the UK-based AI start-up Faculty by Accenture for the UK’s broader strategy to support domestic AI innovation and retain high-growth AI companies in Britain.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK has a great history of successful UK AI startups. Faculty is an excellent example of a UK startup running with its vision and succeeding on a global scale.
We want to ensure that this ecosystem continues to thrive and recently announced a comprehensive package of support. This includes the Advance Market Commitments in which Government will act as a first customer for promising UK start-ups who are building high-quality AI hardware products. The commitment is backed by up to £100 million of government support to give British startups the opportunity for a competitive edge and to win customers in a multibillion-dollar global market.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to support the use of AI-enabled appointment and scheduling tools in the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan was published on 3 July 2025, which sets out how the Government will ensure the National Health Service is fit for the future, where artificial intelligence (AI) will play a fundamental role in this transformation. As part of the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is supporting the use of AI-enabled appointment and scheduling tools to reduce the administrative burden on clinicians, with early trials showing an increase in productivity and clinician time saved.
An accident and emergency demand forecasting tool is now available to all NHS trusts and is already in use by 50 NHS organisations, helping them plan how many people are likely to need emergency care and treatment on any given day. While this tool does not schedule appointments specifically, it uses AI to predict emergency care demand, enabling trusts to plan staffing and resources more effectively and reduce pressure on services.
The NHS continues to fund both pilots and scaling of different software products that enable the use of AI in scheduling and managing secondary care appointments. Typically, these include the ability to predict Did Not Attends, to reschedule appointments at short notice, and improve utilisation of clinician time.
Work has begun to deliver the NHS’s Medium Term Planning Framework commitment that, from April 2026, the NHS will begin to move to a unified access model, using AI-assisted triage. This model should effectively guide patients to self-care or to the appropriate care setting, through a single user interface delivered via the NHS App but with an integrated telephony and in-person offering.
Further to this, features set to be developed through the NHS App will include the ability to book and manage remote or face-to-face appointments, receive personalised health advice, see when vaccines are up-to-date, and book appointments to get them organised, and find travel vaccine info.
Additionally, DrDoctor, an AI tool, had a three-year contract from 2021 to 2024 with the NHS AI Lab Award. It supports hospitals by providing AI guidance on overbooking as a more efficient and economical solution to increase NHS appointment capacity. This has been shown to free up clinician and administrative time, improve patient care and experience, and predict which patients are at the highest risk of missing an appointment with “Did Not Attend” DNA Prediction.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for (1) consumer protection, and (2) financial stability, of emerging customer-facing trials of agentic AI systems in the UK banking sector.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government’s ambition is to make the UK a global leader in AI, leveraging our dual strength in financial services and AI to drive growth, productivity, and consumer benefits. Encouraging safe adoption is an essential part of realising that ambition.
The treatment of customers by UK banks and building societies is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), whose independent regulatory powers ensure consumer protection in the financial services sector. The FCA’s Principles for Businesses require firms to provide prompt, efficient, and fair service to all their customers. The FCA’s Consumer Duty requires firms to act in good faith, prevent foreseeable harm, and act in the best interests of consumers.
UK banks are required to comply with relevant laws and regulations that are fundamental to consumer protection, including in any use of customer-facing agentic AI. In April 2024, the FCA published an update on its regulatory approach to AI, making it clear that where firms use AI as part of their business operations, they remain responsible for meeting FCA rules. Firms remain fully accountable for outcomes delivered by AI systems.
The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) is responsible for identifying and monitoring risks to UK financial stability. In their April 2025 Financial Stability in Focus publication, they set out the potential benefits and risks to financial stability that could result from AI use in the financial system, including in relation to agentic AI. HM Treasury continues to work closely with the FPC and UK financial regulators to assess risks to financial stability.
The Government will continue to work with regulators and industry to ensure innovation proceeds safely and responsibly.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for regulatory oversight of fintech innovation arising from developments in blockchain-based programmable deposit tokenisation in UK banks.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
New forms of digital money and payments present potential benefits for both users and providers of payment services, offering faster, cheaper payments with better functionalities and greater security.
The government, alongside regulators, is considering the innovation opportunities that blockchain-based payments instruments, including tokenised deposits, could present the UK financial services sector.
We are working with regulators and industry to design the next generation of retail payments infrastructure, overseen by the Payments Vision Delivery Committee.
Steps have already been taken to set up the right regulatory conditions for firms to safely innovate and experiment with this technology, specifically through the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) work on the Digital Securities Sandbox.
Furthermore, the government recently laid legislation to regulate cryptoassets and stablecoins. This regime will raise standards, strengthen consumer protection, help tackle market abuse, and support the responsible growth of the UK’s cryptoasset sector by providing clear and consistent rules.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement and strengthen oversight of cryptoasset tax compliance, including measures to improve reporting, enforcement and consumer protection in the UK crypto market.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC uses a range of approaches to manage tax compliance, helping taxpayers get their tax right whilst tackling those who avoid or evade paying the taxes that are due.
Current and planned tax compliance measures are detailed below:
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of tokenised deposits and smart contracts on the mortgage market, including use in conveyancing, remortgaging and the reduction of intermediaries and transaction delays.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Decisions on the use of tokenised deposits and smart contracts in the mortgage market are independent commercial matters for lenders and property firms, within the regulatory framework overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority, including the Consumer Duty and relevant mortgage conduct rules. However, the Government is regularly in contact with mortgage lenders on all aspects of their business, including the evolution and integration of new technologies and their potential impact on the industry.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is currently undertaking a review of home buying and selling, which will consider how digital tools and emerging technologies could be used to improve property transaction processes. The Government has made clear its objectives that reform should support faster, more reliable transactions and reduced fall throughs and risks.