Age verification technologies are well developed and already in use across a range of sectors, including financial services and the online sales of age restricted goods. Age estimation technologies are developing rapidly and there are a growing number of privacy-preserving tools being developed that will ensure that platforms know the age of their users and can provide a safe and age-appropriate experience for children.

Ofcom will set out in its guidance examples of the kinds of age verification and age estimation measures that can be used to meet the duties set out in the Bill – this includes setting out the kinds of technologies that are highly effective in determining whether a particular user is a child for the purpose of protecting children from pornography and other primary priority content that is harmful to children.

Between March 2021 and March 2023, the Department awarded a total of £10.8 million in grant-funding to Tech Nation to support UK tech businesses. Of this, £111,804 was allocated to the Libra programme, excluding Tech Nation’s staff overhead costs. We thank Tech Nation for their valuable work and are pleased to hear that Founders Forum will be relaunching Tech Nation later this year. The Department is not involved in any decisions regarding the continuity of the Libra programme.

The Department assessed the impact of Tech Nation’s growth programmes, such as Libra, through the recently published independent evaluation of DSIT funding to Tech Nation between FY 2020-21 and FY 2022-2023. The Libra Programme supported at least 75 founders from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Given the importance of this issue, the Department embedded diversity and inclusion in the design of the £12m Digital Growth Grant competition. Via this new grant delivered by Barclays Eagle Labs, the Department is continuing to fund dedicated programmes that support underrepresented tech founders. Targeted programmes include the Black Venture Growth Programme, which will support 20 founders per year, and the Female Founders Programme, supporting over 100 founders per year. In addition, Barclays Eagle Labs aims for all grant-funded activities to support a minimum of 35% of founders from backgrounds underrepresented in the tech sector.

In addition to the Digital Growth Grant, the Department also continues to support equality and diversity initiatives in the tech ecosystem more widely, including via its funding to the Tech Talent Charter (TTC). Government has supported the Tech Talent Charter (TTC) since 2017 and this funding has enabled TTC to support over 800 organisations to drive diversity and inclusion in their workforces.

This Government has a mission to make the UK the most innovative economy in the world and the growth of our tech industry is one of the engines to achieve this. We’ve invested in the sector through the Science and Technology Framework, backed by over £370m in our five priority technologies. We are also prioritising digital skills training and are supporting over 22,000 tech businesses to grow via the Digital Growth Grant.

In December 2021, the Government launched a Call for Views on whether or not the current Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) ecosystem promotes competition and encourages innovation. In its August 2022 Summary of Responses the Government said that there was little consensus on the nature, extent, causes, and impact of problems in the ecosystem. A subsequent questionnaire was launched in March 2023, to better understand the experiences of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), small-cap and mid-cap businesses. A Summary of Responses will be published in Summer 2023. Findings on the SEPs ecosystem will be presented to Ministers in late 2023.

In March,the Government published the Science and Technology Framework. This details our strategic vision for how to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030.

The Framework sets out the steps required to attract investment, grow UK companies, innovate successfully and safely, and deploy our world class science and technology research base for good.

We have already announced investment of £900million in exascale computing, £2.5billion over 10 years in quantum technologies and a £1billion semiconductor strategy.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle skills shortages in the technology sector.

In contrast to what the Minister says, more than £600 million of apprenticeship levy funding has been returned to the Treasury in the last year alone, enough to have funded more than 60,000 new apprenticeships. Labour will reform the system to create a growth and skills levy that can be used on a much wider range of training that businesses say they need. Will the Government address the chronic shortage of skills, match Labour’s ambition and give tech businesses what they need to thrive?

The submarine programme in Barrow will deliver thousands of jobs and generations of work, but we are struggling to grow our own. We have Furness STEM and UlverSTEM, which do good work, but this is an international endeavour with AUKUS and a national endeavour with Dreadnought. What discussions has the Minister had across Government about how we lean in to that skills challenge?

Britain is rightly regarded as a technological and science superpower, but the foundations of our science and technology are technicians and their work and contribution. What more can my hon. Friend do to give them more recognition, more status and, even, more funding to carry on the work they do?

We know that digital skills are a vital building block for developing the workforce of the future, so we are working across Government with educators and employers to grow the pipeline of individuals entering the digital sector. Steps that we have taken include the launch of the Government and industry Digital Skills Council, the introduction of artificial intelligence and data science conversion courses with the Department for Education and the creation of new visa routes with the Home Office to attract international tech talent. We worked with the Department for Education on the launch of skills bootcamps in England and the Government will be investing up to £150 million in the programme, with free, flexible courses lasting up to 16 weeks in subjects such as software engineering, with a guaranteed job interview at the end.

We define R&D as per the Frascati definition in line with international standards. This explicitly includes the cost of administering R&D: "Government budgets for R&D may include a provision for the cost of administering R&D programmes and projects, including for example the formulation of calls, competitive procurement processes and grant solicitations, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of programmes". The Frascati definition highlights that "such delivery costs can be an integral part of the process required to ensure that the funds are used for R&D and for meeting the government's objectives". UKRI is already one of the most efficient funders of research in the world, and we are pushing this even further with the Simpler and Better Funding programme.

Building on the UK’s trillion dollar tech industry, this government is creating an environment to grow and scale large globally competitive science and technology companies that drive growth in the economy and high-skilled employment opportunities for citizens

Our Science and Technology Framework sets out how we will do this, including attracting and retaining the brightest talent and leveraging post-Brexit freedoms to be at the frontier of setting standards and shaping regulations

There is no one metric that will determine whether the UK is a global science and technology superpower. We will monitor a range of indicators and international comparisons across the innovation system

We are working across Government and sectors to ensure progress against this Framework. By the end of 2023, we will publish an update setting out the progress that we have made, and the further action that must be taken on our path to being a Science and Technology Superpower by 2030.

Building on the UK’s trillion dollar tech industry, this government is creating an environment to grow and scale large globally competitive science and technology companies that drive growth in the economy and high-skilled employment opportunities for citizens

Our Science and Technology Framework sets out how we will do this, including attracting and retaining the brightest talent and leveraging post-Brexit freedoms to be at the frontier of setting standards and shaping regulations

There is no one metric that will determine whether the UK is a global science and technology superpower. We will monitor a range of indicators and international comparisons across the innovation system

We are working across Government and sectors to ensure progress against this Framework. By the end of 2023, we will publish an update setting out the progress that we have made, and the further action that must be taken on our path to being a Science and Technology Superpower by 2030.

Building on the UK’s trillion dollar tech industry, this government is creating an environment to grow and scale large globally competitive science and technology companies that drive growth in the economy and high-skilled employment opportunities for citizens

Our Science and Technology Framework sets out how we will do this, including attracting and retaining the brightest talent and leveraging post-Brexit freedoms to be at the frontier of setting standards and shaping regulations

There is no one metric that will determine whether the UK is a global science and technology superpower. We will monitor a range of indicators and international comparisons across the innovation system

We are working across Government and sectors to ensure progress against this Framework. By the end of 2023, we will publish an update setting out the progress that we have made, and the further action that must be taken on our path to being a Science and Technology Superpower by 2030.

In the spring 2023 Budget, the government committed to be ahead of the curve on the future of web technology, which includes Web3 and other blockchain-based technologies.

My department will work to maximise the potential of Web3 and spur UK growth and innovation, alongside empowering individuals to influence how their data is used, and minimising any harms to the economy, security, and society.

The Government published the science and technology framework in March 2023, setting out our approach to making the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030. This will increase the UK’s strategic advantage in relation to other nations. As part of that, we have a 10-point plan, having identified five critical technologies, including AI, semiconductors and quantum, which we will prioritise to deliver the framework’s ambition.

The Government published the science and technology framework in March 2023, setting out our approach to making the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030. This will increase the UK’s strategic advantage in relation to other nations. As part of that, we have a 10-point plan, having identified five critical technologies, including AI, semiconductors and quantum, which we will prioritise to deliver the framework’s ambition.

What steps her Department is taking to support the international competitiveness of the science and technology sector.

The Minister will know that I have written to the Department about the future of Syngenta in Bracknell. Berkshire is the Silicon Valley of the Thames valley, and it is important that we do everything possible to maximise investment and job creation. Will the Minister please agree to visit Syngenta with me, and to do what is necessary to ensure that this is not another GSK moment?

We have a truly world-class nuclear skillset in Fylde, with Springfields being home to the country’s only nuclear fuel-manufacturing facility and the National Nuclear Laboratory, which last year made a significant breakthrough in developing lead-212, a cancer-fighting medical isotope. There are real opportunities not only to preserve but to build on that success. What conversations has my hon. Friend had with the Prime

Minister and other Ministers about ensuring our domestic nuclear capability is the go-to choice for use in the UK and about maximising opportunities abroad?