Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the use of AI in her Department on security.

The UK government is dedicated to leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance public services safely and securely. The AI Playbook for the UK Government security section (p. 74) includes an assessment of the risks coming from the use of AI. The Playbook includes worked scenarios for AI use which detail potential impacts for the different types of risk. All AI services must adhere to Secure by Design principles and conduct risk assessments, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs).

The department has established an AI working group to identify, assess and manage opportunities and risks associated with AI technologies in the department. Before any new technology or product is implemented in the department it undergoes security assurance and data protection considerations.

Critical and important systems and services are risk assessed by the department’s Information Security team to identify and communicate risks to service risk owners, and to provide recommendations to mitigate those risks that are above the service and department’s risk appetite.

Security concerns on cross government use of AI tools such as Humphrey are managed centrally via the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Government Security Group.

The following resources, produced by His Majesty’s Government, are available to the department:

• AI Playbook for Government, which can be accessed here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-playbook-for-the-uk-government.
• Code of Practice for the Cyber Security of AI, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-cyber-security-code-of-practice/code-of-practice-for-the-cyber-security-of-ai.