Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has banned the use of DeepSeek.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Government has a robust set of security policies in place to oversee how information is handled, within our buildings, on our IT, and by our staff.
We keep these policies under constant review to ensure they are applicable to new technologies.
The Government's Generative AI framework outlines that only corporately assured Generative AI tools should be used to process HMG information. Everyone who works in government has a duty of confidentiality and a responsibility to safeguard any government information or data that they process, access or share, and all government departments are required to meet a range of mandatory security standards.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Fujitsu has been awarded any Government contracts since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Details of all contracts valued above £12,000 and awarded by central government under the Public Contracts Regulation 2015 are published on Contracts Finder. The Procurement Act 2023 requires contracting authorities to publish more information on tenders and contracts let, and this will be stored on the central digital platform, Find a Tender, enabling greater transparency going forward.
In addition to extensions available under Fujitsu’s existing contracts, Contracts Finder provides details of seven new Fujitsu contracts since July 2024. All of these contracts were with existing customers and in line with Fujitsu’s bid approach. Three of these contracts were direct awards of services that Fujitsu was already providing and were done to ensure continuity of public services, whilst competitive procurements are being set up, as appropriate.
In January 2024, Fujitsu said it would withdraw from bidding for contracts for work with new Government customers until the Post Office Horizon Inquiry concludes or with prior consultation and support from such new customers. Fujitsu also said it would only bid for work with existing Government customers where it already has an existing relationship with them, or where there is an agreed need for Fujitsu’s skills and capabilities.
Fujitsu's bid approach is detailed in this letter, deposited in Parliament. For more details, please see here.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of food procured by his Department is sourced in the UK.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
To date the Government has not held information on where publicly procured food is sourced from.
Starting right away, for the first time ever, this government will review the food currently bought in the public sector to determine the standards that it is meeting, where it is bought from and look to introduce monitoring for transparency and accountability within those supply chains to ultimately get the best food for the consumer.
This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies as we want to help make it an equal playing field for British producers to bid into the £5 billion spent each year on public sector catering contracts.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate the UK Statistics Authority has made of the number of small businesses in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 3rd March is attached.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many officials from his Department attended the World Economic Forum 2025.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
No Cabinet Office officials attended the World Economic Forum 2025.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what purposes the Government Property Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.
The Redbox AI service provided by Cabinet Office is the primary service the GPA has used over the last few months.The Government Property Agency has used artificial intelligence primarily to summarise content such as policy documents and meetings.
Subject to Spending Review (SR), the GPA plans to explore how AI can be used to create efficiencies and improvements in how property is managed, such as validation of building design specifications, preventive maintenance, optimising building use and improving energy efficiency.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what purposes the Crown Commercial Service has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.
The Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) vision is to integrate AI tools and models into its operational fabric, to deliver insights to commercial decision makers, make CCS simpler, quicker and easier to use, and create efficiencies.
CCS is currently experimenting with AI-driven solutions in development environments to improve customer access and usability of its services. Pending successful testing and evaluation, CCS plans to integrate these tools into our services and processes.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what purposes the UK Statistics Authority has used AI in the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 24 January is attached.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what purposes (a) special advisers and (b) officials in 10 Downing Street have used AI in the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.
The Government draws on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform our AI usage. For example, the Generative AI Framework, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, the AI Opportunities Action Plan and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.
The department also has access to the Central Digital & Data Office, based in the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, for expert advice.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have used AI in the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As the Prime Minister made clear in his speech last week at the launch of the Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, AI can be used to radically improve public services, and we are determined to harness its potential.
Ministers and officials in the Cabinet Office have access to a range of technology solutions and platforms to undertake business activities, including AI tools, to improve efficiency and productivity. For example, the Cabinet Office uses an algorithm to automate the review of digital records in order to determine which records should be permanently preserved. The Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard entry can be found here.