Civil Service: Artificial Intelligence Productivity Gains

Lord Fox Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

It is an area where AI is important, because AI does just that. There are certain things AI does to improve the efficiency of what is already done, and certain areas in which it does things that cannot currently be done. Both of those areas will lead to disruption of current workflows. This goes back to my previous answer: the disruption of workflow around AI is the big change management challenge.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, my experience of introducing technology—not AI but other technologies—to large organisations is that there is a huge cultural aspect. I agree that training is very important, but does the Minister agree that, for AI to succeed, the entire workforce has to want it to succeed? How are the Government and Civil Service going to embrace the huge cultural change required to take full advantage of this technology?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I agree, and I have alluded to that in previous answers. The challenge is a cultural one around workflow. I go back to the MIT report, which shows that, especially in big companies, there are high levels of adoption and low levels of disruption. The challenge is to get high levels of adoption with appropriate disruption taking place. That is a cultural challenge. That is why not only training but leadership are needed to make this happen.