Oral Answers to Questions

Kirith Entwistle Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall]

I am proud of this Government’s plan to back UK AI companies and our sovereign capabilities, with £500 million backing our new sovereign AI unit and £1 billion of free compute for British researchers and scientists. We are also overhauling Government procurement to ensure that we back innovative tech companies in the UK, both big and small. That is the way forward to seize the opportunities for growth and secure our sovereign capabilities.

[Kirith Entwistle (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Liz Kendall)]

No woman or child should live in fear of having their image sexually manipulated by technology. That is why in the past six months we have made intimate image abuse and cyber-flashing priority offences under the Online Safety Act 2023; criminalised the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes and mandated that those images are taken down within 48 hours; introduced an offence banning AI nudification apps; and stood up to Grok and X. We know that technology moves fast and, as a Government, we have to keep up. Where we need to go further, we will.

[Kirith Entwistle]

Although I am proud of the steps that our Government have taken to advance online safety, we are merely playing catch-up. What more are the Government doing to ensure that we keep pace with the reality facing women and girls and how will they address emerging technologies such as AI smart glasses, which are operating without scrutiny?

[Liz Kendall]

One of my reflections in this job is that it took eight years for the Online Safety Act 2023 to come in, and it is still to be fully implemented. We need to move faster. MPs discuss a Finance Bill every year, and technology moves incredibly fast, so I am always prepared to take further action when it is needed.