Potholes are the bane of all our lives, including for my constituents, but I have a cunning plan: we could fix potholes much faster by tapping into the superpowers of bin men and women. Bin lorries travel every road every week. Why not equip them with cameras and AI-enabled technology, so that they can spot, map and log potholes immediately, as soon as they appear? That would significantly speed up the process of fixing them. This has been done very successfully in Australia. Will the Department for Transport work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that local authorities have the funding and co-ordination needed to adopt this fantastic technology nationwide?

Potholes are the bane of all our lives, including for my constituents, but I have a cunning plan: we could fix potholes much faster by tapping into the superpowers of bin men and women. Bin lorries travel every road every week. Why not equip them with cameras and AI-enabled technology, so that they can spot, map and log potholes immediately, as soon as they appear? That would significantly speed up the process of fixing them. This has been done very successfully in Australia. Will the Department for Transport work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that local authorities have the funding and co-ordination needed to adopt this fantastic technology nationwide?

That is exactly why the Government have funded the £30 million for Live Labs 2. We want councils to have access to the best available evidence on the condition of their roads. We have introduced a new road conditioning monitoring standard that enables local authorities to use a range of approved technologies, including innovative AI-based systems, to collect consistent and reliable data.

That is exactly why the Government have funded the £30 million for Live Labs 2. We want councils to have access to the best available evidence on the condition of their roads. We have introduced a new road conditioning monitoring standard that enables local authorities to use a range of approved technologies, including innovative AI-based systems, to collect consistent and reliable data.

In my area, the improvement on potholes is noticeable, and I thank the Government for the additional funding, which is being used for large patching work; no longer is there just shovelling into endless holes. I am concerned, however, about road safety in my constituency. Understandably, the money has been prioritised for addressing the enormous backlog of roadworks that developed under the last Government. What more can we do to ensure safety, as well as good road conditions?

In my area, the improvement on potholes is noticeable, and I thank the Government for the additional funding, which is being used for large patching work; no longer is there just shovelling into endless holes. I am concerned, however, about road safety in my constituency. Understandably, the money has been prioritised for addressing the enormous backlog of roadworks that developed under the last Government. What more can we do to ensure safety, as well as good road conditions?

My hon. Friend will be aware that this Government brought forward, for the first time in over a decade, a road safety strategy. In addition, we have introduced a red, amber and green rating of local authorities, to identify where extra support is necessary in order to improve systems and practices, so that we can banish the potholes once and for all.

My hon. Friend will be aware that this Government brought forward, for the first time in over a decade, a road safety strategy. In addition, we have introduced a red, amber and green rating of local authorities, to identify where extra support is necessary in order to improve systems and practices, so that we can banish the potholes once and for all.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether alignment of EU and UK clean technology standards are a subject of discussion of the EU-UK Reset negotiations.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether alignment of EU and UK clean technology standards are a subject of discussion of the EU-UK Reset negotiations.

Digital Safety: Children

The following extract is from the urgent question on Digital Safety: Children on 8 June 2026.

I welcome the Minister’s announcement about blocking explicit images on children’s phones, but this should really have come much sooner. I totally agree with the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) that action...

Digital Safety: Children

The following extract is from the urgent question on Digital Safety: Children on 8 June 2026.

I welcome the Minister’s announcement about blocking explicit images on children’s phones, but this should really have come much sooner. I totally agree with the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) that action...

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department has taken since 1 January 2026 to support research infrastructure that facilitates the advancement of key technologies.

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department has taken since 1 January 2026 to support research infrastructure that facilitates the advancement of key technologies.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to encourage employers to offer structured returnship programmes for women seeking to re-enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers after a career break.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to encourage employers to offer structured returnship programmes for women seeking to re-enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers after a career break.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the safe storage and disposal of oil and gas assets removed following a change in heating technology, in the context of the aim to deploy 450,000 clean heating systems annually by...

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the safe storage and disposal of oil and gas assets removed following a change in heating technology, in the context of the aim to deploy 450,000 clean heating systems annually by...

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help small technology companies to work with the Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help small technology companies to work with the Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what funding has been allocated within the Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme to assess the outcomes of that programme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what funding has been allocated within the Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme to assess the outcomes of that programme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has analysed international examples of requiring intervening Intelligent Speed Assistance technology for high-risk and repeat speeding offenders.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has analysed international examples of requiring intervening Intelligent Speed Assistance technology for high-risk and repeat speeding offenders.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the capacity of West Midlands Police to enforce speed limits through (a) traffic officers and (b) technological measures.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the capacity of West Midlands Police to enforce speed limits through (a) traffic officers and (b) technological measures.

The results from Cambridge and the DIOSynVax programme, primarily funded by the Government through Innovate UK, is a good example of how the Government are taking AI’s potential in vaccine technology seriously. AI’s most credible contribution to vaccine development is in the design stage, including predicting antigen structure and binding and predicting how pathogens evade immunity. Our £137 million AI for science strategy is funding some key enablers for AI use in drug discovery, including in medical research and engineering biology.

The results from Cambridge and the DIOSynVax programme, primarily funded by the Government through Innovate UK, is a good example of how the Government are taking AI’s potential in vaccine technology seriously. AI’s most credible contribution to vaccine development is in the design stage, including predicting antigen structure and binding and predicting how pathogens evade immunity. Our £137 million AI for science strategy is funding some key enablers for AI use in drug discovery, including in medical research and engineering biology.

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. If the House does not realise, what has happened in Cambridge is the first use of AI to design a vaccine candidate being used in human trials, with the possibility of being able to deal with a broad range of viruses. One of the researchers involved said that it is

“amazing what we can do with it for the good of humanity”.

Unfortunately, this new technology may also, in turn, potentially pose a great threat to humanity. So I ask my noble friend: what work is going on to ensure that this type of development is subject to the strictest controls and that, in future, no bad actors can in any way use this new technology to pose a threat to humanity?

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. If the House does not realise, what has happened in Cambridge is the first use of AI to design a vaccine candidate being used in human trials, with the possibility of being able to deal with a broad range of viruses. One of the researchers involved said that it is

“amazing what we can do with it for the good of humanity”.

Unfortunately, this new technology may also, in turn, potentially pose a great threat to humanity. So I ask my noble friend: what work is going on to ensure that this type of development is subject to the strictest controls and that, in future, no bad actors can in any way use this new technology to pose a threat to humanity?

I completely agree that this technology is hugely important for the good it can do in making vaccines and new medicines. It will change our ability to treat and prevent diseases. It is also true that the same technology can be used for bad things. Like many technologies, it can be misused. Many things are in place already: it is illegal, of course, to make chemical and biological weapons, and the Government take very seriously the threat that can come from new technologies. The biological security strategy was published last year. There is £580 million in the defence investment plan for Porton Down infrastructure for a national biosecurity centre, and £115 million to strengthen defences against AI risk. This is a very active area of work.

I completely agree that this technology is hugely important for the good it can do in making vaccines and new medicines. It will change our ability to treat and prevent diseases. It is also true that the same technology can be used for bad things. Like many technologies, it can be misused. Many things are in place already: it is illegal, of course, to make chemical and biological weapons, and the Government take very seriously the threat that can come from new technologies. The biological security strategy was published last year. There is £580 million in the defence investment plan for Porton Down infrastructure for a national biosecurity centre, and £115 million to strengthen defences against AI risk. This is a very active area of work.

My Lords, the development of Evo 2—which is an AI biological model with 9.3 trillion nucleotides extending over 128,000 different species, including humans—means that there is now a capability to produce proteins, molecular structures and even genomes, and therefore artificial pathogens. So is it time for the UK to have mandatory enforcement and regulation of functional-base synthetic DNA?

My Lords, the development of Evo 2—which is an AI biological model with 9.3 trillion nucleotides extending over 128,000 different species, including humans—means that there is now a capability to produce proteins, molecular structures and even genomes, and therefore artificial pathogens. So is it time for the UK to have mandatory enforcement and regulation of functional-base synthetic DNA?