Chi Onwurah

That is why the Government is following through with our manifesto commitment for two weeks’ worth of work experience for all pupils in secondary school and has recently invested £18m in supported internships for those with SEND. We are embedding work placements within T Levels and we’ve also announced funding for 40,000 industry placements as part of the Construction Skills Package

The House Administration actively considers how AI can benefit Members. This consideration has a number of threads:

(1) Exploring the use of AI

Teams across Parliament are working together through Parliament’s AI Working Group to consider how AI may be used in a Parliamentary context (in line with the response provided on 17 October). The intent is to work closely with Members to identify opportunities for the use of AI, including to support their constituency duties. The House Administration will work with Members to assess whether AI is viable for the opportunities that are identified.

(2) Guidance and learning for Members and their staff

AI is increasingly embedded into the services and digital tools we all use. The Parliamentary Digital Service is producing guidance to support Members and staff to use these new technologies safely. This guidance will be considered by the relevant governance bodies in coming weeks.

In addition, resources developed by the House of Commons Library for Members and their staff to learn more about AI are being promoted. PDS and the House of Commons Library have also developed an interactive seminar for Members and their staff to participate in. The first such seminar took place on 19 November as part of the New Parliament Fair and teaches Members what AI is, how to use it safely and how it can be applied to Members’ work.

(3) Learning from other parliaments

Many other parliaments are exploring how AI may support their Members. We have ongoing engagement with them to identify potential uses and learn from others about how AI is being used to support Members in their parliamentary and constituency duties.

All Members will be invited to share ideas for where AI might be useful in supporting them, and the AI Working Group is preparing engagement plans with Members and their staff to assess what might be viable.

The House Authorities, in conjunction with the House of Lords administration and Parliamentary Digital Service, have been actively exploring the potential for AI, and other new technologies, to support the work of Members. A recent example includes the creation of the online portal for the registration of MPs’ financial interests released in spring 2024.

PDS is undertaking a cost-benefit analysis of Microsoft’s Co-Pilot AI tool, which includes AI for mailboxes. This could aid Members and staff in their management of day-to-day administrative activities and involves learning from Government departments which are testing its use. Before a pilot of Co-Pilot could happen within Parliament, there are important information rights protections to put in place to make sure that sensitive information is handled appropriately. Steps to put those protections in place are taking place in coming months.

Parliament’s Information and Digital Strategy sets out both an ambition to ensure that the Houses are exploring the opportunities and risks of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and to be more focused on meeting the needs of Members in the delivery of digital services.

To support these ambitions, an AI Working Group has been convened with representatives of departments across both Houses coordinating and considering how best to enable the use of generative AI. A Digital Innovation Lab has been established to provide a safe testing ground for the use of AI and other emerging technologies, and initial proofs of concepts are being developed for the use of AI to support the work of Hansard and the Table Office. House staff and PDS are working closely with Government departments to understand their use of AI (in particular the development of the Redbox tool which can summarise documents and briefings, and whether there is potential application in Parliament).

To support Members specifically, guidance is being prepared on the safe use of AI in relation to Parliamentary duties. AI learning materials are also being curated, as well as opportunities to learn more through seminar-style events. Both the guidance and learning should become available over the autumn.

As per the previous answer, the Cabinet Office regularly discusses Civil Service workforce matters with trade unions. These matters are wide ranging and include the use of new technology.

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) established a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) known as the Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 (SPA24) with Microsoft, which commenced on 1 November 2024. This arrangement provides enhanced value and discounted pricing for public sector organisations.

A reduction of approximately 6% in Microsoft 365 licence pricing took place in February 2025 as part of a wider price adjustment for Commercial Cloud Services.

The Cabinet Office regularly discusses workforce matters with trade unions.

The Civil Service is committed to establishing a strong presence in regions and nations across the United Kingdom, including in cities such as Newcastle upon Tyne. The Civil Service should be connected to and representative of the communities it serves as well as delivering a high quality of service for citizens across the whole of the UK. Further plans will be set out in due course, aligned with the upcoming Spending Review.

The Secretary of State and Ministerial team engage in regular discussions with UK business on topics including this. Department for Business and Trade ministers have already this year hosted events launching the FTSE Women Leaders and Parker Review 2025 Reports; both of which were attended by senior leaders from across the UK's private sector. Promoting equality of opportunity and business-led initiatives for progress are key parts of this Government's Plan for Change, ensuring fair access to the best jobs for all.

The Government expects all firms to treat their customers fairly, and there is a strong framework of consumer rights in the UK that underpin this. At the same time, businesses are generally free to set the price of their products as they wish. The UK competition regime encourages open and competitive markets which produces lower prices for consumers. The Government has strengthened both competition and consumer protection regimes in the recent Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act.

The Department for Business and Trade has not conducted a formal assessment on Microsoft's price increase for Office 365.

Microsoft cites the addition of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities as the main reason for higher prices. Digital technologies, including AI, are an important way to improve business efficiency. We are exploring ways to boost uptake through the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce, Technology Adoption Review, and AI Opportunities Action Plan. We also provide a range of other support for small businesses, from the Business Support Service to local Growth Hubs.

The Minister for Investment has made several regional visits since her appointment in October, including to Edinburgh, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire, Darlington and Sunderland. The Minister for Investment will continue to make several regional visits in the coming months, to continue to promote investment and identify opportunities across the United Kingdom.

DBT regularly engages with the lithium extraction and processing industry. I will visit Cornwall this Spring to see first-hand the progress that the UK’s leading extractive and processing projects have made. Government has supported growing the lithium value chain through the National Wealth Fund’s £24m investment in Cornish Lithium.

Domestic production of lithium will be increasingly important as demand for resilient and responsible sources of critical minerals grows. Government will work closely with industry to publish a new Critical Minerals Strategy this year. This will secure our supply chains for the long term and refine our approach to maximising domestic production.

The Committee for Climate Change has recommended the government grows the heat network sector from providing 3% of national heat demand to 20% by 2050.

To deliver this ambition we are transforming the heat network market through policies like heat network zoning, which identifies areas of England where heat networks are expected to be the lowest cost solution for decarbonising heat.

Through heat network zoning, certain types of buildings including communally heated residential buildings could be required to connect to a network within a prescribed timeframe.

This will allow for large-scale strategic heat networks to be built in towns and cities across the country.

Great British Energy will develop, invest in, build, and operate clean energy projects across the UK. The Government is supporting decarbonisation of housing stock through other initiatives.

We have committed £3.4 billion over the next 3 years to the Warm Homes Plan, and across 2025 to 2026, we will oversee approximately £3.2 billion of investment in warmer homes.

This will include around £1 billion as part of our Warm Homes Plan, and other funding from social housing providers and obligations from suppliers. This could facilitate up to 300,000 homes to benefit from upgrades next year, helping reduce energy bills and deliver warmer homes that are cleaner to heat.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) conducted substantial technical, deliverability and economic analysis to identify a preferred option for a long-term disposition solution for the UK-owned plutonium, considering options for immobilisation and reuse of the material as fuel to generate electricity. The outcome of this work recommended immobilisation as the preferred way forward to put the material beyond reach soonest and with greatest delivery confidence.

The plutonium cannot be used as fuel in its current form: new infrastructure for Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel production would be required, as well as new reprocessing capabilities to sustain a closed fuel cycle. A proportion of the material is unsuitable for reuse in reactors and requires immobilisation in any scenario.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) conducted substantial technical, deliverability and economic analysis to identify a preferred option for a long-term disposition solution, considering options for immobilisation and reuse of the material as fuel. It is not intended for the NDA analysis to be made publicly available due to commercial sensitivity and safeguarding national security.

The Government has published a refreshed planning framework for new nuclear reactors (EN-7), including small and advanced modular reactors, for consultation. The new planning framework proposes to empower nuclear developers to identify potentially suitable sites in real-time against a robust set of siting criteria.

Plans for Government policies on nuclear power were taken into account when making the decision on plutonium disposition. All current reactor projects use uranium oxide fuel. In addition, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) conducted substantial technical, deliverability and economic analysis to identify a preferred option for a long-term disposition solution for the UK-owned plutonium, considering options for immobilisation and reuse of the material as fuel. Immobilisation is the solution that will place the material beyond reach soonest and with greatest delivery confidence. This is a key step towards dealing with our nuclear legacy and not passing the burden on to future generations.

The Government takes the threat posed by harmful deepfakes very seriously. Deepfakes, and other manipulated media, are regulated by the Online Safety Act where they are shared on an in-scope service and constitute either illegal content or content which is harmful to children. For the largest user-to-user services, AI generated content is captured where it contravenes terms of service. The Data (Use and Access) Act, which received Royal Ascent on 19 June, introduces a new offence for the non-consensual creation of sexually explicit deepfakes. It is already a criminal offence to share, or threaten to share, such content without consent.

Science, innovation and technology are inherently international. The UK continues to work closely with international partners to harness the power of science and tech for global benefit.

We remain focused on ensuring stability in the Middle East. It is crucial that we now de-escalate the situation, stabilise the region, and get all parties back around the table to negotiate.

We have taken all necessary measures to protect UK interests, UK personnel, and to work with our allies to protect their interests as well. We urge all British Nationals, including scientists, to register their presence and monitor FCDO Travel Advice.

DSIT is responsible for the government’s relationship with social media platforms, and leads HMG’s domestic mis- and disinformation policy while working closely with other departments. The Online Safety Act’s duties address mis- and disinformation where it constitutes illegal content or content harmful to children, and are now enforceable by Ofcom. DSIT engages with platforms and may refer content which is assessed as likely to violate terms of service and which sits within an agreed national security / public safety remit. Platforms then decide what action to take: government cannot compel platforms to remove legal content.

The Government defines sovereign AI as the UK's ability to access, influence or control the development and deployment of critical capabilities to protect our national interests and unlock economic growth. This encompasses strengthening domestic capacity and capabilities, working in close partnership with the private sector and maintaining positive international collaboration.

The government is protecting record levels R&D investment, allocating £20.4bn across departments in 2025/26. DSIT’s overall R&D budget will be £13.9bn in 2025/26, including £8.8bn for UKRI to support talent, infrastructure, and innovation. This funding ensures the continuation of research in higher education and supports key priorities such as building R&I talent, fostering student startups, and maintaining Quality-Related (QR) funding, which was around £2bn in 2024/25.