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 she has made of the potential impact of concentrating Government AI partnerships with a small number of large US technology companies on competition and innovation in the UK AI market.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring its AI partnerships benefit the UK AI ecosystem and support public and private sector capacity, innovation and long-term UK capability. Engagement with international technology companies is critical to bring world leading capabilities, expertise, and infrastructure to the UK.
The MoUs signed in 2025 with international frontier AI companies provide a framework for voluntary collaboration, allowing the Government and its partners to explore areas of mutual interest—such as innovation, safety, and responsible development.
These partnerships sit alongside a wider approach to build a diverse and competitive UK AI ecosystem. The Government is strengthening competition and innovation at home by backing British AI companies through the £500 million Sovereign AI Fund , expanding public compute via the AI Research Resource, and supporting startups and scaleups across the AI value chain.
The Government also works closely with independent competition and regulatory authorities to ensure markets remain open and competitive, with existing competition and procurement frameworks applying to AI partnerships as they do in other sectors.
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 she has made of the potential impact of enterprise software licensing practices on the ability of customers to run software across competing cloud platforms on equivalent commercial terms.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns, including barriers that may limit customer choice and make it harder for businesses to switch or run workloads across competing cloud providers on equivalent terms. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers.
The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.
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 potential impact of technical, contractual and financial switching barriers in the cloud services market on effective competition for UK businesses and public sector bodies.
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. In July 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that certain technical and commercial practices in the cloud market hinder switching and limit effective competition. The CMA recommended its Board prioritise a future Strategic Market Status investigation into cloud competition.
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 estimate her Department has made of the cost to public sector bodies of limited competition in the UK cloud infrastructure market.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns with clear negative impacts for UK businesses, consumers and the public sector.
The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.
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 her Department has assessed the potential merits of regulatory intervention in the UK cloud market; and what steps she is taking to help reduce barriers to competition in that market.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers.
The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.
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 she has had recent discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority on the timetable for decisions regarding Strategic Market Status investigations into cloud infrastructure providers; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the time taken for those decisions on competition in the UK cloud services market.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers.
The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. Neither the Secretary of State nor Ministers have discussed future SMS prioritisation decisions with the CMA. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.
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, how many of the AI-related (a) Memorandums of Understanding and (b) service agreements signed by her Department since July 2024 are with UK-headquartered companies; and what steps she is taking to ensure UK-based AI firms have equitable access to Government procurement.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Government has signed AI-related Memorandums of Understanding with OpenAI, Google DeepMind, NVIDIA, Cohere and Anthropic. All of these firms have significant office presence or headquarters in the UK, and many are expanding here. For example, in February 2025 OpenAI announced it is significantly expanding its presence in London, establishing the city as its largest research hub outside the United States. Google DeepMind is also opening its first automated research lab in the UK this year.
To ensure UK-based AI firms have equitable access to government procurement, DSIT has developed an AI Commercial Strategy. This provides a clear model for sourcing AI solutions, enabling government teams to select the most effective route for each need, while using mechanisms that encourage experimentation and support UK SMEs and startups.
Our Incubator for AI is also working across government to explore how AI can transform public services. Starting with planning and education, these projects combine political backing, government AI engineering capability, the agility of DSIT's commercial innovation hub, and departmental expertise to bring frontier AI into government and redesign services around citizens' needs.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what equality impact assessment was carried out before awarding the Nexus AI contract to IBM; and what safeguards are in place to prevent algorithmic bias in those AI tools used in benefits administration.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was not undertaken at the point of award of the Nexus contract. Nexus is a call-off contract with a broad scope which, of itself, does not directly introduce defined services or functionality into live operations. EIAs are undertaken at the appropriate point for individual projects delivered through the contract, prior to being deployed into live services.
The Department for Work and Pensions has a legal requirement to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, using tools such as Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) and fairness assessments to highlight any potential bias or discrimination risks associated with AI and automation.
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 total value of AI-related contracts has been awarded by all Government departments since July 2024; and what proportion has gone to (a) UK-headquartered firms and (b) firms headquartered outside the UK.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder).
Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023 above £12,000 inc VAT are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service. This includes a note of the winning supplier. (https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search).
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, how she will measure UKRI progress in meeting priority areas and outcomes of the UKRI AI Research and Innovation Strategic Framework; and how Parliament will be updated on this.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) AI Research and Innovation Strategic Framework, published on 19 February 2026, sets out six priority action areas and associated outcomes to 2031.
UKRI will measure progress through the framework’s delivery plan, which it will publish and update regularly, and through its existing performance framework, including a quarterly, balanced scorecard and annual review. In line with UKRI’s commitment to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive growth, DSIT will work closely with UKRI to ensure that metrics include how the department is contributing to growth, the UK Industrial Strategy and other government priorities. Parliament will be updated through the normal accountability routes, including UKRI’s Annual Report and Accounts, which will be laid in Parliament, and responses to Parliamentary Questions.