Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness to the former Prime Minister of 1 September 2022, whether his Department is taking steps to help support people who will be most affected by (a) increasing automation and (b) the use of artificial intelligence.

The Government welcomes innovation, and the contribution of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to economic growth. The UK is already a world leader in AI, ranking third in the world, with the UK AI sector worth over £15.6bn (DataCity 2020).

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy plays an essential role in helping articulate what employers need from the skills system and support the Government’s ambitious reform programme to support people who will be affected by automation get the skills they need. The Government has expanded investment in postgraduate Master’s conversion courses in AI. Alongside this we are funding scholarships for students from underrepresented groups. We have also announced £117m funding to create 1000 more PhDs.