Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kanishka Narayan and Paulette Hamilton

Thursday 10th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Paulette Hamilton (Birmingham Erdington) (Lab)]

18. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the creation of new jobs in the AI industry.

[The Minister for Artificial Intelligence (Kanishka Narayan)]

I am working with colleagues right across Government to deliver good AI jobs in every part of this country. That means a focus on capabilities, the AI skills boost for individuals and BridgeAI for funds. It means a focus on compute with the AI growth zone programme and the AI research resource for British start-ups. It means a focus on capital through the British Business Bank and Sovereign AI. At the heart of it, it means a focus on culture, so that we are building AI for good in every part of the country.

[Kanishka Narayan]

My hon. Friend has been a champion of AI in this place and has great experience of technology, given her previous career, which is a source of insight for us all. On the question of AI support for small businesses, our AI skills boost programme has a particular focus on upskilling 2 million individuals in small and medium-sized enterprises—the biggest targeted training programme since Harold Wilson’s Open University programme. Alongside that, my focus is on ensuring that the procurement programmes in AI support small businesses in every part of this country, including through an AI research and development scheme that is supporting those businesses.

[Paulette Hamilton]

I, too, welcome my hon. Friend to his place. Birmingham has enormous potential to benefit from the growth of AI, but communities like mine in Erdington must not be left behind. What steps is the Minister taking with colleagues across Government to ensure that young people in constituencies like mine have access to the skills, apprenticeships and training they need to secure the new, well-paid jobs being created by AI?

[Kanishka Narayan]

I thank my hon. Friend for her shared commitment to the fact that, unlike in the last wave of technology, everyone across this country must feel the opportunity that AI offers. For that reason, we are focused on both the AI skills boost programme and the AI upskilling challenge fund, so that local areas across the country can benefit from those resources. I am also looking very closely at introducing boot camp pilots so that young people not in employment, education or training can learn about AI, and I am working closely with trade unions through the Early Careers Jobs Alliance. We are thinking about the future of jobs so that Britain is best prepared for every community to make the most of AI.