Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the growth of UK semiconductor companies developing hardware-based cyber security technologies and the creation of high-skilled engineering jobs.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
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.
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 increasingly capable frontier artificial intelligence models are subject to independent safety evaluation before deployment.
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 collaborative approach 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 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 Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support universities and employers to expand access to work experience for undergraduate students.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Economic growth is the central mission of the government and is vital to give the next generation the opportunities to thrive.
Higher education providers are autonomous institutions and are responsible for designing and delivering their own courses. This includes decisions on whether to offer internships, work placements or industrial secondments.
The department encourages universities to work with businesses to develop and manage these opportunities in ways that best meet the needs of their students, employers and academic staff.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the use of artificial intelligence in education does not undermine the reliability of assessments of students’ individual work.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is clear that AI should support teaching and learning while ensuring that assessments continue to reflect students’ own knowledge, skills and understanding.
The department has published support materials to help schools and colleges use AI safely and effectively, including guidance for leaders and educators on the risks and opportunities associated with AI.
The vast majority of GCSE and A level assessments are taken under close supervision, without access to the internet or AI tools.
Ofqual, as the independent regulator, has published its approach to regulating the use of AI in qualifications and assessments, focused on maintaining fairness, validity, security and public confidence, and this is available on the Ofqual website.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) guidance is also clear that work submitted for assessment must be a student's own, and that misuse of AI may constitute malpractice. This guidance is available on the JCQ website.
Education should prepare young people to thrive in a world shaped by AI, but the value of their achievements must remain beyond doubt.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to equip young people with the skills needed to adapt to changes in the labour market arising from artificial intelligence.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is creating new opportunities, while also changing how young people enter work and develop their careers.
The department is equipping young people with the knowledge and skills for a changing labour market, including through reforms to the curriculum and post-16 qualifications. This includes a greater emphasis on oracy, stronger digital and media literacy, and clearer pathways into further study, training and high-quality careers. We have also announced plans for new high-quality Vocational GCSEs for 14 to 16-year-olds, supporting progression into A levels, T Levels, V levels, apprenticeships and other post-16 routes and helping ensure students have the skills for the jobs of the future. V levels and T Levels have employer-informed content and can respond to technological and labour-market change, including AI.
The Early Careers Jobs Alliance brings together government, employers, trade unions and young people to outline how entry-level work is changing and produce practical support for businesses’ entry level pathways. Skills England is working with employers and providers to identify future skills needs, while the AI Economics Institute is improving understanding of AI’s impact on jobs and skills needs.
The government is also supporting young people to develop AI and technology skills directly, including through TechFirst, our flagship programme to expand pathways into the tech sector. In addition, more than £6 billion of recent AI investment is expected to create around 8,000 UK jobs, giving young people opportunities to apply and develop these skills.
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 Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase UK manufacturing capacity for the hardware required for artificial intelligence, robotics, and quantum technologies.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is backing UK manufacturing capacity across these frontier technologies. Our £1.1 billion AI Hardware Plan will back British chip firms, support the scaling of hardware technologies in the UK, boost computing power and build the skills needed for long-term growth. We are backing advanced manufacturing with up to £4.3 billion over five years, including £38 million of grants to set up Robotics Adoption Hubs. For quantum technologies, we have committed up to £2 billion, including £140 million in infrastructure such as open-access pilot lines and cryogenics research and development.
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 ensure that UK financial services firms have sufficient cyber security and engineering capacity to address vulnerabilities identified by increasingly capable artificial intelligence systems.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that increasingly capable artificial intelligence systems present both opportunities and risks for the financial sector.
As noted in July’s Financial Stability Report, frontier AI may materially increase the flow of vulnerabilities requiring assessment and remediation by firms, which could itself become a source of systemic risk, even if cyber-attacks were not to increase. A materially higher volume of identified vulnerabilities would require firms and suppliers to patch and validate changes at much greater speed and frequency, increasing the risk of errors, outages, and disruption across interconnected systems.
In May 2026 the National Cyber Security Centre issued guidance to firms encouraging them to prepare for a wave of software updates that will need to be applied across the technology stack to address the disclosure of new vulnerabilities.
The UK financial authorities have made clear that firms should maintain effective protective, detective, threat containment and cyber response capabilities, and should be able to identify, assess and remediate vulnerabilities more quickly and at greater scale as AI capabilities develop. Firms are responsible for ensuring they have the skills, expertise and resources necessary to manage risks appropriately, including cyber security and engineering capacity.
The Government supports this through technical advice and guidance from the NCSC and ongoing engagement with industry and regulators, including through the Cross Market Operational Resilience Group (CMORG).