Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to train civil servants in the use of AI.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT has published guidance and launched training to upskill civil servants in the use of AI. These resources include the AI Playbook for the UK Government offering public services up-to-date guidance on AI technologies, their capabilities and limitations and 70 AI Civil Service Learning courses. The AI Community of Practice builds on this, offering knowledge sharing from teams who have developed AI solutions in government. GDS has built AI content into their Faststream Graduate and TechTrack Apprenticeship upskilling programmes, which are open to Civil Servants. In addition GDS has launched the AI Accelerator, an upskilling pipeline for existing civil servants within the Government Digital and Data profession to gain Machine Learning Engineering skills to work on AI tools.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to encourage investment in artificial intelligence in (a) the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District in Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency and (b) other areas.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The AI Action Plan will ensure all parts of the UK benefit from the opportunities AI presents. AI Growth Zones (AIGZs) will be closely aligned with wider government initiatives, including Local Growth Plans, ensuring substantial regional and national benefits.
By concentrating government support on planning and energy, AIGZs aim to attract significant private investment, accelerate the build-out of critical AI infrastructure, and drive local economic regeneration.