Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of Friday 27 January 2023 on Emergence of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) and their necessary apprehension through European human rights law.

The Ministry of Defence has set out its position on lethal autonomous weapons systems in the Defence AI Strategy and accompanying Ambitious, Safe and Responsible policy paper. The UK does not possess fully autonomous weapons systems and has no intention of developing them. The UK considers that the provisions of international law - particularly International Humanitarian Law - and existing regulatory frameworks are appropriate to new weapons systems and capabilities.

The UK has a developed and considered position and continues to take a proactive role in discussions within international fora. The UK is committed to the Group of Government Experts on LAWS under the auspices of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons which is the right forum for taking the debate forward. These are complicated and nuanced issues and given the complexities we need a pragmatic approach based on agreed norms and rules of the road.