To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 October 2026 to Question 20517 on Government Digital Service: Senior Civil Servants, what is the length of the fixed term contract period for the interim Director General for Digital Transformation; and whether...

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 October 2026 to Question 20517 on Government Digital Service: Senior Civil Servants, what is the length of the fixed term contract period for the interim Director General for Digital Transformation; and whether...

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the governance arrangement is between the Government Digital Service and the Prime Minister's AI Taskforce for public-sector AI adoption; and whether a memorandum of understanding or joint board exists.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the governance arrangement is between the Government Digital Service and the Prime Minister's AI Taskforce for public-sector AI adoption; and whether a memorandum of understanding or joint board exists.

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Interim Director General of the Digital Transformation Group is a permanent or temporary civil servant.

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Interim Director General of the Digital Transformation Group is a permanent or temporary civil servant.

Lords private notice question on what assessment they have made of the abolition of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the merging of its functions with other departments and; the implications of this on the future operation of (1) the AI Safety Institute, (2) the Sovereign AI Fund, (3) the Government Digital Service and (4) UK Research and Innovation.

Lords private notice question on what assessment they have made of the abolition of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the merging of its functions with other departments and; the implications of this on the future operation of (1) the AI Safety Institute, (2) the Sovereign AI Fund,...

My Lords, science and AI are having an increasingly large impact on all areas of government policy and economic growth. We should not see science and technology as an isolated issue. That is why the Prime Minister has announced a bold restructuring, including the elevation of AI to the Office...

My Lords, science and AI are having an increasingly large impact on all areas of government policy and economic growth. We should not see science and technology as an isolated issue. That is why the Prime Minister has announced a bold restructuring, including the elevation of AI to the Office...

My Lords, many of us welcomed the creation of DSIT and the focus that it brought on science and technology, but with the very regrettable resignation of the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, who will be greatly missed, and the understandable concerns expressed by Sir Paul Nurse, the president of the...

My Lords, many of us welcomed the creation of DSIT and the focus that it brought on science and technology, but with the very regrettable resignation of the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, who will be greatly missed, and the understandable concerns expressed by Sir Paul Nurse, the president of the...

The noble Lord raises a series of very important issues. First, I put on record my absolute thanks for the work done by my noble friend Lord Vallance, who it has been a pleasure and privilege to work with. Noble Lords will appreciate—there have been many comments in your Lordships’...

The noble Lord raises a series of very important issues. First, I put on record my absolute thanks for the work done by my noble friend Lord Vallance, who it has been a pleasure and privilege to work with. Noble Lords will appreciate—there have been many comments in your Lordships’...

My Lords, does the Minister agree that there is a real danger here of exactly the wrong signal being sent to the science community? First, there is the departure of one of the most successful Science Ministers of recent years—I say that as one of his predecessors from long ago—the...

My Lords, does the Minister agree that there is a real danger here of exactly the wrong signal being sent to the science community? First, there is the departure of one of the most successful Science Ministers of recent years—I say that as one of his predecessors from long ago—the...

The noble Lord makes an interesting point, but it is also incredibly important that we talk about AI, and more broadly its impact on science and what is changing, as something that should be at the heart of government and central to every department. There has not been a subject...

The noble Lord makes an interesting point, but it is also incredibly important that we talk about AI, and more broadly its impact on science and what is changing, as something that should be at the heart of government and central to every department. There has not been a subject...

My Lords, any reorganisation like this will take of the order of 12 months, which is an eternity in AI. It is equivalent to three generations of frontier AI models. Can the Minister reassure the House that both the AI Security Institute and the sovereign AI fund will be able...

My Lords, any reorganisation like this will take of the order of 12 months, which is an eternity in AI. It is equivalent to three generations of frontier AI models. Can the Minister reassure the House that both the AI Security Institute and the sovereign AI fund will be able...

The noble Lord raises a very important point. We are seeing technology move faster than at any point over the last 100 years, never mind in my lifetime. It is incredibly important that we keep up, which is why we will now have a dedicated Minister attending Cabinet to make...

The noble Lord raises a very important point. We are seeing technology move faster than at any point over the last 100 years, never mind in my lifetime. It is incredibly important that we keep up, which is why we will now have a dedicated Minister attending Cabinet to make...

My Lords, if the House will allow me, I pay my own tribute to my noble friend Lord Vallance of Balham, whose record of public service, both as Government Chief Scientific Adviser and as Minister for Science, has been exemplary. As the noble Lord said, he will be missed. Does...

My Lords, if the House will allow me, I pay my own tribute to my noble friend Lord Vallance of Balham, whose record of public service, both as Government Chief Scientific Adviser and as Minister for Science, has been exemplary. As the noble Lord said, he will be missed. Does...

My noble friend is absolutely right. The new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade will focus on new and emerging sectors as part of our reindustrialisation agenda. This is about building on the foundations that we have already made so that we can move further and faster to deliver...

My noble friend is absolutely right. The new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade will focus on new and emerging sectors as part of our reindustrialisation agenda. This is about building on the foundations that we have already made so that we can move further and faster to deliver...

My Lords, there is much scratching of heads about the detachment of science and technology. We hear about an AI Minister who will now be in a new office at the Cabinet Office and, some are also saying, at DCMS reporting into it, but we were talking about movement in...

My Lords, there is much scratching of heads about the detachment of science and technology. We hear about an AI Minister who will now be in a new office at the Cabinet Office and, some are also saying, at DCMS reporting into it, but we were talking about movement in...

The noble Lord raises a genuinely valid point, but this is about how we mainstream everything and put this at the heart. Everything we are talking about is AI-enhanced reindustrialisation. I appreciate that there are many times when we use “AI” as shorthand for tech or science, just because of...

The noble Lord raises a genuinely valid point, but this is about how we mainstream everything and put this at the heart. Everything we are talking about is AI-enhanced reindustrialisation. I appreciate that there are many times when we use “AI” as shorthand for tech or science, just because of...

My Lords, there are five areas where a country or a company can lead in artificial intelligence: people, chips, models, infrastructure and deployment. The leading global companies are spending about £500 billion this year on it; our spending as a country will be roughly 0.3% of that. Given the scale...

My Lords, there are five areas where a country or a company can lead in artificial intelligence: people, chips, models, infrastructure and deployment. The leading global companies are spending about £500 billion this year on it; our spending as a country will be roughly 0.3% of that. Given the scale...

The noble Lord is right that we are talking about how technology and the advancements in it are going to fuel economic growth. That is a priority for the Government, as the Prime Minister has made clear. The prioritisation of that will come in the coming days, but our key...

The noble Lord is right that we are talking about how technology and the advancements in it are going to fuel economic growth. That is a priority for the Government, as the Prime Minister has made clear. The prioritisation of that will come in the coming days, but our key...

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