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 growing number of young people using generative artificial intelligence as an alternative to therapy; and whether the advice provided by such technologies is regulated.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, no assessment has been made on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor the unsupervised use of these therapy tools. However, we recognise the potential of AI to improve health and care services, including supporting people’s mental health. The United Kingdom has a world-leading regulatory system which ensures that medical technologies on the market are safe for use, including AI technologies. Should the National Health Service begin to assess AI-integrated therapy tools, they will be held to the same regulatory standards as other tools used by the NHS.
Ensuring technologies are safe is a top priority. To ensure the regulatory pathway is clear for both developers and adopters, the Department has supported the launch of numerous regulatory projects such as the AI and Digital Regulation Service (AIDRS) and the AI Airlock.
The AIDRS collaborates between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulation Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Health Research Authority, and the Care Quality Commission. The service, by providing a collaborative ‘one stop shop’ of information, advice, and guidance, allows adopters and developers of AI to easily understand what regulatory and evaluation pathways need to be followed before an AI tool can be safety deployed across health and care.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the soft skills children and adults can develop through playing video games, and whether these can improve employment prospects.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK’s video games sector, and this includes considering the impact of the sector’s activities and the economic, cultural and social benefits it brings across the UK.
Research conducted by the National Literacy Trust shows that gaming can support the development of skills like creativity, communication and literacy. These skills are particularly important for employability and serve not only creative industries, but prepare people for jobs across the whole economy - in 2020, there were 1,297,000 people in creative occupations outside of the creative industries.
To support the sector to thrive and continue developing soft skills in individuals, the government has announced £5.5 million funding for the UK Games Fund (UKGF) for 2025/26. This will provide grants to early-stage studios across the UK to develop prototypes and new intellectual property, and run development programmes for new graduates. Additionally, video games companies benefit from the Video Games Expenditure Credit, UK Global Screen Fund, and access support from the Create Growth Programme.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that skilled video game developers and producers remain in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK’s video games sector, which brings economic, cultural and social benefits across the UK.
The Video Games Expenditure Credit continues to make the UK one of the leading destinations in the world for making video games, offering companies credit equal to 34% of their qualifying expenditure.
The Government has also announced £5.5 million funding for the UK Games Fund (UKGF) for 2025/26, which will provide grants to early-stage studios across the UK to develop prototypes and new intellectual property, and run development programmes for new graduates.
Additionally, video games companies can benefit from the UK Global Screen Fund for international business development, and access support from the Create Growth Programme.
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 rise in borrowing in March; and what steps they are taking to ensure that borrowing levels remain sustainable, particularly in relation to tax rises.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The fiscal rules confirmed at the Budget last October put the public finances on a sustainable path and prioritise investment to support long-term growth. These rules are to ensure the current budget is in balance and net financial debt falls by 2029-30.
At the Spring Statement in March, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) showed that the government is on track to meet its fiscal rules, thanks to decisive action taken to reduce spending and grow the economy.
The OBR will produce a new forecast in the Autumn for the annual Budget, and the Chancellor will take decisions in the round based on that forecast.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage more investment into British publicly traded companies.
Answered by Baroness Gustafsson - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK government has been taking action to boost investment in British publicly traded companies by promoting stability and delivering the reforms needed to support growth as set out in the Chancellor’s Mansion House speech last year.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the 10 percent tariffs that the United States of America has placed on United Kingdom imports; and how will this affect United Kingdom manufacturing and exports.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is disappointed by the announcement of an increase in tariffs, which are not in the UK’s national interest, and we understand businesses are concerned.
That is why the government has been focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States, and we will continue to engage with the US to understand the details of how these tariffs will be implemented.
We remain resolute in our support for UK industry across the board. We have already heard from a number of business organisations including the CBI and the British Chamber of Commerce, that they support our approach and want us to continue working to secure an economic deal with the US. Ministers and officials will continue to meet with impacted stakeholders from a range of sectors.
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 encourage firms to adopt artificial intelligence technologies to increase their efficiency and output.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is taking targeted action to support firms across the UK to adopt artificial intelligence (AI), helping to drive productivity and economic growth.
We are delivering the 50 recommendations from the AI Opportunities Action Plan, to strengthen the UK AI ecosystem and boost adoption. This includes appointing AI Sector Champions, appointing respected figures from key industries to help raise awareness and support firms in their sector to adopt AI.
The Government has also announced the Technology Adoption Review at the Autumn Budget. This review will provide recommendations on how Government and industry can work together to fully realise AI’s potential in the private sector, accelerating AI adoption in the eight sectors most critical to UK growth, as well as facilitating widespread adoption across the rest of the economy, including addressing the specific barriers faced by SMEs.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Leader of the House what assessment they have made of government departments using artificial intelligence assistance in answering Questions for Written Answer, and whether this affects the integrity of the answers.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
All written parliamentary questions are considered on a case by case basis. The Government does not have a specific policy on the use of AI for responding to written parliamentary questions, however staff do have access to AI software tools to support the drafting process. All responses are reviewed by policy officials to ensure accuracy and consistency with government policy, and parliamentary questions are signed off by Ministers.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the increase in minimum wage on 1 April on the number of job vacancies.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As set out in the Impact Assessment accompanying the 2025 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage (NLW) rates, the economic literature to date shows that increases to the NLW have had a limited impact on labour demand.
There were around 816,000 vacancies in December 2024 to February 2025, broadly unchanged on the quarter, based on the latest official data.
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 steps they are taking to ensure connections to the electricity grid are sufficient to attract investment in artificial intelligence data centre infrastructure.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is working with Ofgem and NESO to deliver fundamental reform to the grid connections process. Subject to Ofgem’s final decision this could release over 400GW of capacity from the connection queue, which will accelerate connections for AI data centres.
The Government have also sought expressions of interest to identify promising locations which can benefit overall grid infrastructure whilst still having quick project development times to remain attractive for infrastructure investment.
The Government is also setting up the AI Energy Council, through which senior representatives from both the energy industry and the AI industry will look at where best to locate AI data centres and proactively manage the energy requirements of AI. These efforts work in tandem with the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.