Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for future funding of AI auto-contouring technology.

Any future spending commitments beyond 2025/26 will be determined through the next phase of the Spending Review process, which will conclude in June.

The Department continuously supports the National Health Service in reviewing opportunities to utilise artificial intelligence (AI) to transform diagnostic performance, bring down waiting times, and supporting staff with their workload.

Furthermore, the Department is carrying out work to assess the barriers of effective adoption and improve the way AI tools are deployed across the NHS through a number of initiatives, including the NHS AI Lab’s Ethics Initiative, which invests in research and practical interventions that could strengthen the ethical adoption of AI within health and care and addresses risks and concerns over their use.