Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department monitors (a) UK research and development capacity and (b) the impact of reductions in funding by university departments on that capacity.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Research England engages regularly with leaders at all research-intensive universities on a range of issues including R&D capacity. The government is concerned about the potential impact of cuts by universities on UK R&D capacity and is monitoring the situation.
We are determined to work with the sector to transition to sustainable research funding models, including by increasing research grant cost recovery as announced by UKRI last week. However, universities also need to take their own steps to ensure they are working as efficiently as possible and cost their research appropriately.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department is funding research into (a) sensory processing sensitivity and (b) mitigations for that sensitivity.
Answered by Feryal Clark
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) delivers a substantial portfolio of researcher-led projects and strategic investments, including research into sensory processing sensitivities, such as autism and ADHD. Research is funded by different Research Councils, including the Medical Research Council through its Neurosciences and Mental Health Board.
Additionally, the Department of Health and Social Care funds health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes proposals for research into a range of conditions, including sensory processing sensitivity, at https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has plans to instruct Ofcom to conduct an impact assessment of the decision to designate end-to-end encryption as a risk factor in their Illegal Harms Codes of Practice and illegal content risk assessment guidance.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Online Safety Act does not ban any service design, including end-to-end-encryption. Under the Act, providers must risk assess the design of their service. Ofcom can only recommend measures in codes of practice that are technically feasible. Separately, Ofcom has powers to direct companies to develop and deploy accredited and accurate technology to identify and remove child sexual abuse material on private communications, but only when all other measures have not adequately addressed the risk.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 ensure that Ofcom publishes details of (a) meetings and (b) correspondence with large social media companies.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Under the Online Safety Act Ofcom is the independent regulator for online safety in the UK. In order to carry out its regulatory functions, it is important that Ofcom maintains regular contact with regulated online services, including large social media companies. Ofcom publicly consults on its draft guidance and codes of practice, and many consultation responses are published on its website, including responses from some regulated services. Ofcom is accountable to Parliament and is required to publish an annual report and accounts. Ofcom is also in scope of the Freedom of Information Act.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to publish a written response to the recommendations of the independent report entitled What works to attract and retain people into R&D careers, published on 10 February 2025.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government does not typically publish responses to independent research reports. The recommendations made by the Behavioural Insights Team in this report will be considered as part of the Department’s ongoing policy development to support our ambitions for the UK’s R&D workforce and to drive national and regional growth through R&D.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to help ensure that tax incentives for science and technology are used to promote innovation.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Research and development (R&D) tax reliefs are vital to economic growth, and will support an estimated £56 billion of business R&D expenditure a year by 2029-30.
In the Corporate Tax Roadmap, the Government committed to strengthening the administration of the reliefs by continuing to improve guidance, establishing an expert advisory panel, and publishing a consultation on widening the use of advance clearances. An R&D disclosure facility was launched at the end of 2024.
HMT is the lead department for taxation policy including R&D tax reliefs. The Secretary of State and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have regular discussions on a range of issues.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions his Department has had with trade unions on the digitalisation of Government.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology regularly discusses workforce matters with trade unions.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of open source AI on the economy.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The UK has a strong open-source ecosystem and we recognise how open source can help support economic growth and innovation. The AI Opportunities Action Plan includes measures to help maximise this potential, including through commitments around open sourcing where possible in the development and deployment of AI tools in the public sector.
Open source can also boost transparency and support AI safety research. The UK Government will carefully balance these important benefits alongside the risks that AI can bring as it develops its regulatory approach.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much public money has been allocated for the development and maintenance of the AI tools (a) Scout, (b) Connect, and (c) Humphrey; and from which departmental budgets those funds have been drawn.
Answered by Feryal Clark
One of the functions of the new Government Digital Service is to incubate AI products and scale them into cross government services. As part of this funding for the development of Connect and Humphrey will come from the budget of the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence, which sits within DSIT's overall operating budget.
The level of funding is subject to the department’s settlement at Spending Review. Currently other departments are not charged for use of these tools, though the department will determine an appropriate operating model on finalisation of the Spending Review. Following a handover of the tool, future budgetary decisions for Scout will belong to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of using procurement to support open source software development in the UK.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The UK has a strong open-source ecosystem, which has helped drive innovation and distribute the benefits of technology widely.
The AI Opportunities Action Plan outlines how the government will maximise the potential for AI, including its support for open-source development. This includes the government's agreement to support open-source solutions when procuring AI models and other software for public sector use where appropriate. As a result, we are working closely with and engaging the open-source community to benefit from open-source innovation through appropriately sourced models and other technical solutions.
The principles of being open and using open source has been part of the Government's Technology Code of Practice for some time, and continues to be one of our core principles.