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 energy costs on factory activity in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Gustafsson - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government recognises that high energy costs impact factory activity and undermine investment in manufacturing. Therefore, we announced in the Industrial Strategy the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, to reduce industrial electricity prices by around 20-25% from 2027. This new scheme could benefit over 7,000 manufacturing businesses, including those in automotive and defence sectors. We will consult on precise eligibility shortly.
For existing Supercharger recipients, we will also increase Network Charging Compensation from 60% to 90%, saving eligible energy intensive industries a further £10 per megawatt-hour.
We are also continuing compensation of indirect carbon costs from electricity generation for eligible sectors.
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 whether they plan to develop artificial intelligence note-taking technology for the NHS to safely and securely store patient data.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting and enabling the safe, effective, and ethical deployment and adoption of new technologies for the National Health Service. Ambient voice technologies (AVTs) hold transformative potential for the health and care system as note-taking aides. Their adoption, when used safely and securely, is encouraged to improve both the quality of patient care and operational efficiency. NHS England has published guidance on how digital technologies should be approved for use in the NHS, covering key areas such as implementation, information governance, data, security, privacy, and controls. Additional national guidance has been published explaining how AVT solutions should be selected, deployed, and scaled. These standards are required for any AVT solution to be considered safe, effective, and eligible for NHS adoption.
There are strict safeguards in place throughout the NHS to protect data. All providers of services which handle patient data must protect that data in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, and every health organisation is required to appoint a Caldicott Guardian to advise on the protection of people’s health and care data, to ensure it is used properly. This includes where artificial intelligence (AI) is used in relation to patient records.
To mitigate the likelihood and severity of any potential harm to individuals arising from the use of data in AI, the Information Commissioners Office has developed detailed AI guidance which provides information on data protection, including Data Protection Impact Assessments and UK GDPR. It has also produced an AI toolkit to support organisations auditing compliance of their AI-based technologies. NHS bodies are expected to make use of this guidance and toolkit, including those using AVTs.
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 whether funding is allocated to implementing artificial intelligence in the NHS, in particular technology for supporting patient diagnosis; and if so, what proportion of NHS funding is allocated for that purpose.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will transform diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to speed up waiting times for diagnostic tests, including through supporting the roll-out of artificial intelligence (AI). Shorter diagnostic waiting times are a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the referral to treatment 18-week standard.
No current assessment has been made on the extent to which AI is being used in the NHS for diagnosing patients. Whilst some funding has been allocated for AI diagnostics, the full proportion of allocated NHS funding is not held.
Against a backdrop of increasing demand for NHS services and significant workforce pressures, AI presents significant opportunities for improving the delivery of care and outcomes for patients. AI tools have the potential to make healthcare more timely, effective, and accessible to the public. To make the most of these opportunities, the Prime Minister has accepted all 50 recommendations of Matt Clifford's AI Opportunities Action Plan.
Through the AI in Health and Care Award, £113 million has been provided to test and evaluate AI technologies in crucial areas, such as imaging and diagnostics. This funding is helping us to generate the evidence needed to deploy effective AI tools across the NHS and improve the lives and health outcomes of our population.
The Department is also focusing the £21 million AI Diagnostic Fund on the deployment of technologies in key, high-demand areas such as chest X-rays and chest computed tomography scans to enable faster diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in over half of acute trusts in England.
The 2025 Spending Review settlement commits to a major transformation of care delivery, moving from analogue to digital systems, hospital to community-based care, and from treatment to prevention. To support this, the NHS productivity plan is backed by a nearly 50% increase to NHS technology and digital transformation spend since 2025/26, with a total investment of up to £10 billion by 2028/29.
This investment builds upon existing funding that the NHS has directed towards significantly innovating technology in diagnostics, including AI, across the NHS.
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 extent to which artificial intelligence is being used in the NHS for diagnosing patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will transform diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to speed up waiting times for diagnostic tests, including through supporting the roll-out of artificial intelligence (AI). Shorter diagnostic waiting times are a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the referral to treatment 18-week standard.
No current assessment has been made on the extent to which AI is being used in the NHS for diagnosing patients. Whilst some funding has been allocated for AI diagnostics, the full proportion of allocated NHS funding is not held.
Against a backdrop of increasing demand for NHS services and significant workforce pressures, AI presents significant opportunities for improving the delivery of care and outcomes for patients. AI tools have the potential to make healthcare more timely, effective, and accessible to the public. To make the most of these opportunities, the Prime Minister has accepted all 50 recommendations of Matt Clifford's AI Opportunities Action Plan.
Through the AI in Health and Care Award, £113 million has been provided to test and evaluate AI technologies in crucial areas, such as imaging and diagnostics. This funding is helping us to generate the evidence needed to deploy effective AI tools across the NHS and improve the lives and health outcomes of our population.
The Department is also focusing the £21 million AI Diagnostic Fund on the deployment of technologies in key, high-demand areas such as chest X-rays and chest computed tomography scans to enable faster diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in over half of acute trusts in England.
The 2025 Spending Review settlement commits to a major transformation of care delivery, moving from analogue to digital systems, hospital to community-based care, and from treatment to prevention. To support this, the NHS productivity plan is backed by a nearly 50% increase to NHS technology and digital transformation spend since 2025/26, with a total investment of up to £10 billion by 2028/29.
This investment builds upon existing funding that the NHS has directed towards significantly innovating technology in diagnostics, including AI, across the NHS.
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 support small businesses with receiving payments owed to them and to encourage the prompt repayment of invoices.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Late payments are one of the biggest problems facing small businesses and the self-employed.
In September 2024 we announced a package of new measures aimed at tackling late payments and supporting small businesses, these included:
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 artificial intelligence for note-taking in the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting and enabling the safe, effective, and ethical deployment and adoption of new technologies for the National Health Service. Ambient voice technologies (AVTs) hold transformative potential for the health and care system as note-taking aides. Their adoption, when used safely and securely, is encouraged to improve both the quality of patient care and operational efficiency. NHS England has published guidance on how digital technologies should be approved for use in the NHS, covering key areas such as implementation, information governance, data, security, privacy, and controls. Additional national guidance has been published explaining how AVT solutions should be selected, deployed, and scaled. These standards are required for any AVT solution to be considered safe, effective, and eligible for NHS adoption.
There are strict safeguards in place throughout the NHS to protect data. All providers of services which handle patient data must protect that data in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, and every health organisation is required to appoint a Caldicott Guardian to advise on the protection of people’s health and care data, to ensure it is used properly. This includes where artificial intelligence (AI) is used in relation to patient records.
To mitigate the likelihood and severity of any potential harm to individuals arising from the use of data in AI, the Information Commissioners Office has developed detailed AI guidance which provides information on data protection, including Data Protection Impact Assessments and UK GDPR. It has also produced an AI toolkit to support organisations auditing compliance of their AI-based technologies. NHS bodies are expected to make use of this guidance and toolkit, including those using AVTs.
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 impact of international conflicts on the oil market, and whether they intend to implement measures to reduce the effect of such external shocks on the UK economy.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Oil and gas markets are well supplied and functioning normally. Though they have responded to events in the Middle East, prices remain within the bounds we have seen over the last year.
The Government's Clean Energy Superpower Mission, supported by the largest investment in home-grown clean energy in British history, will enhance energy security by boosting our energy independence, protecting billpayers, and reducing exposure to global supply shocks.
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 more workers and small businesses to adopt artificial intelligence in their day-to-day operations.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we are committed to the widespread diffusion of AI across the UK. To ensure workers feel confident using AI in their day-to-day operations, we are partnering with 11 companies to train 7.5 million UK workers with essential AI skills by the end of the decade, ensuring the UK workforce can thrive in an AI-enabled economy. We have also recently announced an AI Adoption Fund alongside regional business support. These measures will provide businesses with the targeted expertise and skills they need to integrate AI into their business models, fuelling growth.
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 emerging cybersecurity risks as a result of public use of artificial intelligence technologies such as automated vehicles.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As AI adoption increases and cyber threats evolve, we must ensure systems are being developed securely and avoid putting personal safety or data at risk. The government’s approach is to ensure technology is ‘secure by design’ with minimum standards of cyber security built in to reduce the security burden on users. The new AI Cyber Security Code of Practice, produced by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), is part of this approach and helps organisations develop and deploy AI systems securely.
The NCSC has also produced advice and guidance to help individuals understand the cyber security risks of using AI tools. The AI Security Institute builds on the expertise of our NCSC to understand how AI could be used to help malicious actors commit cyber attacks.
Cyber security is at the heart of the government’s priorities for the roll-out of automated vehicles. The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 places obligations on vehicle manufacturers to maintain vehicle software and ensure there are appropriate cyber security measures in place throughout its service life.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the growth of artificial intelligence technologies on future water demand; and what steps they are taking to mitigate the risk of water shortages as a result.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency published its second National Framework for Water Resources in June 2025 and continues to engage with the sector to improve understanding of future water needs. A questionnaire recently completed by the sector will aid modelling. Further data and more refined modelling will be needed to fully understand future needs.
Water companies also factor in future supplies required for non-household demand in their areas. Meeting increased demand will also require water using sectors, such as artificial intelligence technology, to forecast and plan their water consumption, look to water efficiency measures, and their own sources of water to support their operational resilience.
The Water Delivery Taskforce will hold water companies to account to deliver their PR24 plans; ensuring the additional water, wastewater and drainage capacity needed for longer-term growth is understood and suitable plans are in place for delivery both within and beyond the Price Review 2024 (PR24) programme.
Ofwat published their PR24 final determinations in December 2024, which sets company expenditure and customer bills for 2025-2030. This will deliver substantial and enduring improvements through a £104 billion upgrade for the water sector.