Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to invite representatives from creative industries to the London AI Summit.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK believes that the dangers of frontier AI risks are increasingly urgent. This includes risks such as biosecurity and cybersecurity, including from the potential misuse of models by non-state actors. This will be the focus of the AI Safety Summit and the invitee list will reflect this theme. The Government is working on wider AI-related risks including those associated with the creative industries through the Creative Industries Sector Vision and via work with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to get the balance right in supporting Government’s ambitions on AI innovation without critically undermining value for rights holders.
The government set out its ambitions for the Summit in greater detail at the start of September, and we look forward to sharing more details in due course.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent estimate she has made of when the Intellectual Property Office will publish its code of conduct on copyright and artificial intelligence.
Answered by George Freeman
The working group on copyright and AI has asked the Intellectual Property Office for more time to prepare a draft code of practice. A progress update will be published on GOV.UK shortly.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether it is her Department’s policy that companies using copyrighted data to train artificial intelligence models must seek appropriate licences.
Answered by George Freeman
The copyright framework is relevant whenever copyright works are copied. Permission or a licence should be obtained unless an exception applies.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she hold discussions with her international counterparts on the use of unlicensed data to train artificial intelligence models at the global summit on Artificial Intelligence.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK will host the first major global Summit on AI safety this autumn.
The Summit will bring together key countries, as well as leading technology companies and researchers, to drive targeted, rapid international action to guarantee safety and security at the frontier of this technology.
The Summit will seek to agree on the safety measures needed to evaluate and monitor the most significant risks emerging from the newest developments in AI technologies.
Decisions are ongoing regarding the agenda for the Summit and we look forward to updating the House further as our preparations continue.
With regards specifically to data and AI, as a government, we want to make the UK a world leader in research and AI innovation, whilst ensuring that the UK copyright framework continues to promote and reward investment in creativity. To enable that, the government is supporting the growth of the creative industries through a number of IP-related initiatives, including the IPO’s Counter Infringement Strategy, to ensure IP rights are protected online.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the oral evidence of the Prime Minister to the Liaison Committee on 4 July 2023, HC1602, what steps her Department is taking to implement the (a) reporting and (b) licensing of large training runs for artificial intelligence.
Answered by Paul Scully
It is clear that the right guardrails must be in place to manage the risks AI poses. Our proportionate regulatory framework, underpinned by a set of principles and supported by tools like AI assurance techniques and technical standards, sets out a responsible approach to AI innovation. The Government also made it clear in our AI regulation white paper that our approach must be adaptable. As we now look to implement the new regulatory regime, we are considering how the framework will apply to the various actors in the AI development and deployment lifecycle, with a particular focus on foundation models.
This is supported by the £100 million Foundation Model Taskforce led by Ian Hogarth, as well as a new central risk function and international leadership on AI safety through the AI summit.
Our proposed central functions, including risk analysis, horizon scanning, and monitoring and evaluation, will keep the wider landscape under constant review to inform policy. They will capture emerging risks, including risks arising from increasingly powerful foundation models. The Foundation Model Taskforce will meanwhile advance vital safety research, laying the groundwork for the safe adoption of AI across the UK economy, ensuring we are at the forefront of this pivotal technology.
The UK will host the first major global summit on AI safety this autumn. The Summit will bring together key countries, as well as leading technology companies and researchers, to drive targeted, rapid international action to guarantee safety and security at the frontier of this technology.
As the Prime Minister told the Liaison Committee, the Government continues to analyse a range of safety features and guard rails that we could put in place. These could include new measures for the reporting and licensing of large training runs. But it is vital that the effectiveness of any proposals are rigorously evaluated before they are implemented. This is why we welcome the wide range of stakeholders that provided insights to our consultation on the AI regulation white paper. We are currently considering all evidence sent to the consultation and we will provide an update through the Government's response later in the year.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of increases in mortgage interest rates on rental costs in Wales.
Answered by James Davies
The Secretary of State for Wales and I engage with colleagues across government on a range of issues.
We recognise this is a concerning time for renters and those with mortgages. Whilst mortgage interest rates are a commercial decision for lenders, we expect lenders to treat all borrowers fairly. Buy-to-let borrowers facing financial difficulties should contact their lender to discuss the options available to them.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people who were in receipt of the Disability Living Allowance for children have had their applications to transfer to Personal Independence Payments on turning 16 refused since April 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of people who were in receipt of Child Disability Living Allowance (DLA) that had their application to transfer to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) refused on turning 16, from April 2013 to October 2022, can be found on Stat-Xplore. In particular, the requested data can be found by applying the following filters to the ‘Child DLA to PIP reassessments’ dataset:
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore; the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on consulting with technology and music industry stakeholders on the design and implementation of a code of conduct for the use of artificial intelligence in the music industry.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government recognises the enormous potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deliver better public services, high quality jobs and opportunities, and enable future high growth industries. As set out in the recent AI white paper, our goal is to ensure that the UK becomes an AI superpower.
However, it is important that while we harness the benefits of AI, we also manage the risks. This includes particular risks to creative sectors and rights holders, notably the music industry.
As set out in the Government response to the Pro-innovation Regulation of Digital Technologies Review, we are working with users and rights holders to develop a code of practice on text and data mining, a process used in the development and training of AI models. To inform the code of practice, the Government is convening a group of AI firms and rights holders, in the music industry and other parts of the creative sector, to identify barriers faced by users of data mining techniques when accessing copyright materials, and to develop licensing solutions for these.
The Chancellor hosted a Creative Industries conference on 3 May alongside the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport; Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology; and the Secretary of State for Education, to discuss with 80 industry representatives the key challenges and opportunities facing the Creative Industries, including the impact of the use of AI in the music industry. We will continue to engage and work closely with industry on the design and implementation of future reforms.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of applications for Personal Independence Payments were initially denied and subsequently granted following a successful appeal in each month since April 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Number and proportion of PIP initial decisions that are initially disallowed and are successful following an appeal
Date of initial PIP decision | Number of PIP initial decisions, initially disallowed that are successful following an appeal | Proportion of initial decisions, that were initially disallowed that were successful following an appeal |
Apr-22 | 1,180 | 2.0% |
May-22 | 850 | 1.5% |
Jun-22 | 630 | 1.1% |
Jul-22 | 560 | 0.8% |
Aug-22 | 410 | 0.6% |
Sep-22 | 220 | 0.3% |
These figures include appeal decisions at tribunal hearing up to 31st December 2022, the latest date for which published data is available. Note that more appeals could be made and completed after December 2022, so numbers could go up as it can take some time for an appeal to be lodged and then cleared after the initial decision.
Please note:
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of Biometric Residence Permits issued in January 2023 have been subsequently reissued to correct errors in visa conditions.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information is not available publicly and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.