Artificial Intelligence: Impact Assessments

(asked on 29th August 2025) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will she make it her policy to commission the OBR to produce an AI impact assessment.


Answered by
Emma Reynolds Portrait
Emma Reynolds
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This question was answered on 4th September 2025

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the Government's official independent forecaster responsible for assessing the UK economic and fiscal outlook. As an independent body, the judgements underpinning these forecasts, including potential estimates of the impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI), are for the OBR and the OBR has discretion over the contents of its publications.

In the OBR’s latest Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report, published on 8 July 2025, it was noted that if productivity grows faster than expected it could significantly improve the outlook for the public finances. The OBR also note that the “rapid development and dissemination of artificial intelligence could be one driver of upside risk to future productivity growth, although the magnitude and timing of the potential boost to productivity remains highly uncertain”.

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