Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what process was followed to appoint Suzanne Ashman as Managing Partner of the UK Sovereign AI Fund.

The Managing Partner of the Sovereign AI Fund has been appointed following a three-month, competitive, five-stage recruitment process involving over 60 candidates. She was judged the strongest candidate on merit against the skills and experience required. This is a Civil Service appointment. Ministers were not involved in the recruitment process and had no decision-making authority over the outcome.