Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to publish her Department's response to the consultation entitled Draft regulations to commence Sections 61 to 64 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022, which was published on 7 May 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As per the commitment made in the Written Ministerial Statement on 21 July 2025, on 15 December 2025 the Department made regulations implementing Sections 61 – 64 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 and published its response to the consultation which ran earlier this year.
The regulations will come into force on 7 April 2026.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether it is still her Department’s policy to finalise s61-64 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022, relating to renewal agreements, by the end of 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As per the commitment made in the Written Ministerial Statement on 21 July 2025, on 15 December 2025 the Department made regulations implementing Sections 61 – 64 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 and published its response to the consultation which ran earlier this year.
The regulations will come into force on 7 April 2026.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help ease restrictive licensing practices in relation to software by large cloud providers to ensure that there is fair and open competition in the sector.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting a competitive and innovative digital economy. This is why we prioritised the commencement and implementation of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (the CMA) new powers in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and any decisions on which markets it next investigates is for their Board.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help accelerate the process to designate cloud services with Digital Market Unit's Strategic Market Status to prevent anti-competitive practices in the sector.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA) has completed three Strategic Market Status investigations this year. The CMA is independent of the Government and decisions on which markets to investigate are for its Board. The CMA has published guidance on its website on how it will prioritise Strategic Market Status designations.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the level of systemic risk from reliance on two dominant cloud providers following recent outages.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 24 November to UIN 92927. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) continues to monitor systemic risks to UK critical national infrastructure from reliance on cloud providers, including resilience measures and contingency planning following recent service outages.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had recent discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the application of VAT for (a) medicines and (b) treatments provided for medical (i) trials or (ii) compassionate use under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The DSIT Secretary of State has not met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss this particular matter.
There has been no recent law or policy change in this area.
Application of VAT is determined on a case-by-case basis depending on specific details of the nature of the supplies. This includes medicines or treatments provided for free under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS). In certain circumstances the giving of goods away for free can be outside the scope of VAT. Where the supply is within the scope of VAT a relief may apply, meaning the supply can be made VAT free.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support access to growth capital for scaling UK tech firms.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT delivers specific policy interventions to unlock growth investment for UK science and technology firms, as well as contributing deep science and technology expertise to initiatives led by others, such as the British Business Bank’s £4bn Industrial Strategy Growth Capital Fund. A second cohort of Science and Technology Venture Capital Fellows will commence training in November, receiving specialist training overseen by DSIT to enable them to launch deep-tech venture capital funds. And, DSIT sponsors the National Security Strategic Investment Fund’s investment arm, making direct investments into companies developing strategically-important dual-use technologies, with increased funding up to £330m for 2026-30.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what her Department's planned timetable is for the implementation of outstanding provisions in the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement [made by the former Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms], we intend to implement the remaining provisions of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 as soon as possible. Subject to considering the consultation responses, we intend to finalise s61-64 of the Act, relating to renewal agreements, by the end of the year.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will amend the gov.uk biography page for the Director General, Digital Centre Design to include previous employment by the (a) Labour Party and (b) Rt hon. Member for Hove and Portslade.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The biography is in line with GDS guidance and contains an appropriate level of detail, similar to others in similar roles in government. Emily’s appointment is well documented and in the public domain.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether Public Digital provided advice on the transfer of the Government’s digital and data function to his Department.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Public Digital did not provide any advice to DSIT on the merits of the Machinery of Government (MoG) change.