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 assessment they have made of the role of artificial intelligence-assisted diagnostic tools in improving the early detection of skin cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the National Cancer Plan the Government is committed to speeding up the detection and diagnosis of cancer, including skin cancer, ensuring safe use of artificial intelligence (AI) based decision tools.
The plan sets out how we will support pathologists to work more efficiently through a £604 million investment in digital diagnostics, including digital pathology, and £96 million in the automation of histopathology, as well as further investment in digital technology and AI.
Additionally, the NHS Cancer Programme is leading the national rollout of teledermatology to improve the speed of skin cancer diagnosis and increase productivity.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) routinely evaluates medical technologies, including innovative AI-enabled technologies, and makes recommendations on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of products for the health and social care services in England. NICE has recommended the use of an AI technology for assessing and triaging skin lesions for patients in the National Health Service suspected skin cancer pathway.
This AI tool, DERM, can distinguish between benign and cancerous skin lesions with nearly 99.7% accuracy, and is now being used in 25 NHS trusts as a part of the NHS's rollout of ‘teledermatology’. Further evidence on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the tool is currently being collected.
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 through health research and innovation programmes to support the use of artificial intelligence in the development of treatments for neurological conditions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department delivers research into neurological conditions via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is funding Developing safe conversational artificial intelligence for specialist NHS neurology services. This research will explore the quality, safety, fairness, and acceptability of clinical artificial intelligence (AI) assistants in the National Health Service.
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care topics, including the use of AI in the development of treatments for neurological conditions. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Launching this June, the NIHR Innovation Catalyst is designed to accelerate the development and evaluation of innovative health technologies, such as AI. It brings together funding, infrastructure, and expertise to help innovators generate the evidence needed to move technologies more quickly towards real‑world use. Overall, it aims to get effective new technologies to patients faster.
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 assessment they have made of the use of AI technologies in residential care settings to reduce falls and emergency hospital admissions; and what plans they have for the funding and regulation of those technologies in the adult social care sector.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Falls can have a significant impact on quality of life, and the human cost of falling includes distress, pain, injury, loss of confidence, loss of independence, and mortality. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) reports that, in 2022/23, there were approximately 210,000 emergency hospital admissions in England related to falls among people aged 65 years old and over.
Our Adult Social Care Technology Fund sought to identify care-focused technology solutions that have the potential for wider rollout within the sector, providing evidence to prioritise investments in care technology. Emerging evidence from Government-funded independent evaluations indicates that artificial intelligence (AI) enabled technologies, such as the Nobi smart lamp, help people live at home for longer and can prevent falls and “long lies” in care homes by between 37% and 49%, as well as reduce hospital admissions and free up staff time. The evaluation reports will be published on a rolling basis from May 2026.
The Government recognises the potential of digital and AI‑enabled technologies to support prevention and improve outcomes in adult social care. In the next year, we will set new standards for care technologies, including falls technologies, and develop trusted guidance so that people and care providers know which technologies are fit for purpose, secure, and compatible with the wider health and social care systems in the future. This will support care providers and people to make more informed, long-term investment decisions. We have commissioned NICE to develop a new evidence standards framework for adult social care technologies which builds on the strong foundations of NICE’s Evidence Standards Framework for digital health technologies.
To support the responsible use of AI, we have published guidance for care providers outlining relevant use cases and considerations for safe and ethical adoption. NHS England has published guidance and standards to support the responsible adoption of AI, and operates within a strong regulatory and assurance framework, working with bodies including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NICE, the Health Research Authority, and the Care Quality Commission. We are also setting out the Government’s strategic approach to AI in adult social care, alongside its approach to AI in health, through the National AI Roadmap, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
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 impact of artificial intelligence-driven automation on employment levels and labour market transitions.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that AI is transforming workplaces, demanding new skills and augmenting existing roles. We have launched the AI and the Future of Work Unit - a cross‑government function dedicated to ensuring AI delivers positive outcomes for the economy, jobs, and workers. The Unit published an initial assessment of AI impacts on the labour markets in January 2026. To further increase government’s capability to assess these impacts and inform relevant policy, we are establishing a new AI Economics Institute, incorporating the Future of Work Unit, but with a broader focus on the economics of AI.
To support labour market transitions, we are building a digitally skilled workforce to support long-term economic growth, drive innovation and expand individual opportunity we are supporting AI Skills Boost to upskill 10 million workers in AI skills by 2030. We have already delivered more than 1 million AI training courses have been delivered to workers across the UK.
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 support they are providing to businesses in the hospitality sector to deploy artificial intelligence tools for improving inventory management, reducing food waste and increasing efficiency.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We are committed to ensuring the UK is the leading adopter of AI in the G7, and the Government will look at how regulation, data and access to finance can support adoption including by working closely with sectoral AI Champions to identify new solutions.
The Government works closely with the Hospitality Sector Council, bringing together industry leaders to address key challenges and opportunities, and to drive improvements in productivity and resilience across the sector. Through the Small Business Plan, we are also supporting businesses to make greater use of digital and AI technologies, alongside building the skills needed to adopt them effectively, helping hospitality businesses modernise their operations and grow.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the UK's energy generation and grid capacity in supporting the expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure and data centres.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to ensuring electricity networks can meet rising electricity demand, including from data centres, by deploying new renewable and low-carbon generation, plus new network infrastructure, in line with the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. In parallel, the Government is encouraging the data centre industry in the UK to be world-class in lowering its energy use. Through the AI Energy Council, it has been working with the Royal Academy of Engineering to understand better the metrics and technologies to facilitate long-term sustainability in the industry.
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 strengthen the resilience of the financial system against cyber risks arising from the use of advanced artificial intelligence tools, in light of warnings from the International Monetary Fund that such risks could pose systemic threats.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Cyber security is a top priority for the Government, and HM Treasury works with the financial authorities, industry and with international partners to strengthen the financial sector’s resilience to threats and hazards of all origins, including cyber risks.
HM Treasury is actively engaging industry, including through the Cross Market Operational Resilience Group, and published a joint statement on frontier AI and cyber resilience alongside the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority on 15 May. This has been supported by technical advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, which has published guidance to organisations on building cyber resilience, and the UK’s AI Security Institute, which tests leading AI systems and collaborates with top AI companies to improve their safety and security.
UK financial regulators have also implemented an operational resilience framework for the financial sector, which includes rules and supervisory expectations on operational resilience and risk management for financial services firms. We also maintain robust exercising and incident response frameworks, ensuring readiness for disruption and coordination across government and industry.
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 recent increases in investments received by United Kingdom-based artificial intelligence companies.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since this government came to power, nearly £100 billion worth of investment has been pledged to be spent in the UK's AI sector.
Throughout this time, many of our world-leading AI start-ups have raised significant investment. For example, Wayve have raised $1.2bn to deploy its autonomous driving software, including in London; and ElevenLabs raised $500m at an $11bn valuation, to expand its research and product development and continue its international expansion. David Silver, one of Britain’s top AI researchers, has raised more than $1bn in seed funding for his new London-based AI startup, Ineffable Intelligence, including investments from the British Business Bank and the Sovereign AI Fund.
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 development and scaling of artificial intelligence start-ups.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK has a flourishing AI start-up ecosystem, and as of early 2026, the UK is home to over 150 tech unicorns, ranking it 3rd globally for venture capital-backed innovation.
Our AI Opportunities Action Plan demonstrates how we are delivering a long-term strategy to ensure that the UK remains one of the best places in the world to start, scale and grow AI companies.
We have established the Sovereign AI Unit, backed by up to £500m, to back homegrown AI founders via investment in start-ups. We’re strengthening the UK’s scale-up finance ecosystem to help high-growth companies - including AI start-ups - start, scale and remain in the UK. This includes strengthening long-term capital through an expanded remit for the National Wealth Fund, increasing its capitalisation to £27.8 billion and scaling up the British Business Bank to £25.6 billion, as well as increasing annual investments by two-thirds to around £2.5 billion and committing £5 billion to growth-stage funds.
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 risks arising from the overseas processing of data by AI systems used by UK companies; and what steps they are taking to ensure compliance with data protection and cybersecurity requirements.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that UK companies’ use of AI systems often relies on global infrastructure, which can create challenges in how organisations manage transfer risks.
Where personal data is processed in AI systems, in the UK or overseas, it will be subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, which includes maintaining the UK's high data protection standards when transferred internationally.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with these requirements.