All schools and multi-academy trusts are responsible for selecting technology that meets their own educational needs, context and supports them in meeting statutory responsibilities.

Those choices should be informed, evidence-based decisions. To support schools, our EdTech Evidence Board programme set out a framework of advice and questions schools can ask EdTech suppliers to support evidence-based decisions. We are also in the process of setting up EdTech Testbed Programme to assess and generate evidence on the effectiveness and impact of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), in real education settings. Lastly, we are developing AI benchmarks as a way to test the effective product development of AI tools.

The department does not currently recommend, endorse or encourage any specific educational technology products for use in schools.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, MOD Ministers and officials have maintained a continuous dialogue across government, the private sector, and with Ukrainian counterparts to enable UK industry to collaborate on and support Ukraine’s highest priorities.

The National Audit Office report in September 2024 on UK support to Ukraine recognised the speed, innovation and collaboration shown by MOD in equipping and supporting Ukraine. The changes we are making to our procurement rules are similarly increasing the speed of procurement for our own armed forces.

Our bilateral arrangements with Ukraine facilitate the exchange of battlefield technology, the co-development of cutting-edge military capability and the creation of new intellectual property, all of which will be reinforced by the UK defence business centre about to open in Kyiv to provide UK companies, particularly SMEs, greater access to Ukraine’s military challenges and Ukrainian industry.

The UK is committed to deepening its defence industrial partnership with Ukraine, including by helping Ukrainian defence technology companies engage with UK industry, innovation networks, and potential routes to production, especially where these align with UK capability priorities and national security requirements.

The Ministry of Defence works across Government, including with the Department for Business and Trade, Task Force Kindred, DASA, Dstl and UK Defence Innovation, to connect Ukrainian companies with UK commercial, research, testing, and investment pathways. They also highlight trade opportunities, engage with Ukrainian government, military, and industry stakeholders, and support the navigation of operating and compliance requirements. Officials have engaged with representatives of the UK/EU-Ukraine Defence Innovation Corridor and provided advice on how that early-stage proposal could align with existing UK-Ukraine defence innovation activity.

The Ministry of Defence continues to identify and exploit defence and industrial collaboration opportunities with Ukraine. Under our 100-Year Partnership, we are establishing stronger and closer defence cooperation both on a governmental and industrial basis.

Through Programme LYRA, launched by the Prime Minister and President Zelenskyy in June 2025, we have facilitated co-production arrangements, including the development of new, shared, intellectual property and cutting-edge capability. The recent update to Ukraine's export control regime, earlier this month is welcomed.

Under our 100-Year Partnership we will build an enduring alliance between our two countries and deliver maximum benefit for both the UK and Ukraine's long-term security and prosperity.

The Government does not determine which technology police forces procure or deploy. This is a matter for operationally independent Chief Constables, held accountable by directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners.

The Home Office does recognise the importance of better linking data across multiple systems and using technology to ensure improved operational outcomes. In the recent Government White Paper From Local to National: A New Model for Policing, published in January, we set out our ambitious plans for police reform. This includes launching a new National Data Integration and Exploitation Service and a new National Centre for AI in Policing (“PoliceAI”) which is investing £115 million over the next 3 years.

The Government has been working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to produce a system which will provide forces with automated intelligence alerts from the Police National Database (PND) on individuals working in policing. The Home Office has provided £1.5m for a proof of concept and an additional approximately £2m towards development of a pilot for this work, known as ‘Continuous Integrity Screening’, which some forces are planning to run before the end of this year. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is also considering how it may apply AI and automation capability in its processes’

In addition, the Government provides ongoing funding to the National Police Wellbeing Service to provide support to forces and individuals, including a National Police Workforce and Wellbeing Survey. This provides evidence-based insights into wellbeing, helping forces identify patterns in welfare issues and broader organisational risks, benchmark against national findings, and inform targeted wellbeing interventions. On top of ongoing funding, the Government is providing additional funding of £2.4m this year to the National Police Wellbeing Service to increase support to forces as set out in the Police Reform White Paper, including measures to help monitor and prevent welfare issues.

In the Industrial Strategy, Government set out an ambition to drive innovation in agriculture. We committed to invest at least £200 million in the Farming Innovation Programme by 2030, with £123 million available for competitions in 2026-27. To date, the programme has supported more than 300 projects, including innovations in fruit crop protection and dairy health in Horsham. Frontier industries are supported through a range of interventions tailored to their specific growth opportunities and barriers, rather than through directly comparable funding allocations. Progress is reported through our Quarterly Updates and recent one-year Industrial Strategy delivery update.

The Department of Business and Trade has expertise committed to delivering economic growth in the agri-tech sector and helping to deliver the outcomes of the Industrial Strategy.

The AI and cyber-security sectors make up core parts of the UK’s growing technology sector as set out in the Modern Industrial Strategy digital and technologies sector plan. The UK AI sector alone contributed £11.8 billion in Gross Value Added to the UK economy in 2024, supporting more than 86,000 jobs. We have seen large recent investments in the UK from leading firms, including AMD's £2 billion commitment. In total, over £90 billion of capital investment has been pledged to be spent in the UK's AI sector since this Government came to power.

The Government’s Cyber Security Sectoral Analysis 2026 shows the UK cyber security sector is worth £14.7 billion and contributed £9.1 billion in GVA to the UK economy in 2025. The analysis found that UK dedicated cyber security firms raised £184 million of investment across 47 deals in 2025. Notable fundraisings in 2025 include Inforcer, which raised £26 million; Maze with £18.4 million and Optalysys with £23 million.

The Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme evaluation has been commissioned independently through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and is entirely independent of Eli Lilly and Company. The evaluation team is currently working with funded projects to understand service delivery models and planned data collection, with the final evaluation framework being developed by Autumn 2026. The findings of this independent evaluation will inform national decision-making, including future evidence requirements, and the outputs of the independent evaluation will be disseminated and made publicly available as appropriate.

When replacing a fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump or other low carbon technology, the expectation and rules for waste disposal are the same as like-for-like replacements.

Guidance for the disposal of appliances varies by product categorisation. Advice on waste management can be found on gov.uk.

When replacing a fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump or other low carbon technology, the expectation and rules for waste disposal are the same as like-for-like replacements.

Guidance for the disposal of appliances varies by product categorisation. Advice on waste management can be found on gov.uk.

The NHS Supply Chain is committed to ensuring that its procurement arrangements support competition, innovation, and value for money for the National Health Service, while remaining compliant with the Procurement Act 2023 and other applicable legislation.

The NHS Supply Chain uses a range of commercial models to support market access and publishes a forward pipeline of anticipated procurement activity covering an 18 month period, providing suppliers with early visibility of upcoming opportunities and sufficient time to prepare to compete. Decisions regarding the structure and duration of framework agreements are taken following consideration of market conditions, competition, supply resilience, operational requirements, and the needs of NHS customers. Where appropriate, the NHS Supply Chain engages with trade associations and suppliers at an early stage to ensure category strategies are informed by market capability and to identify opportunities to improve access for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Procurement Act 2023 provides a range of commercial tools, including more flexible arrangements where appropriate, and the NHS Supply Chain considers these options during sourcing strategy development. Procurement approaches are regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to support innovation, effective competition, and the adoption of technologies that deliver benefits for patients and the wider NHS.

The NHS Supply Chain's engagement with health technology SMEs, including through its SME Engagement Forum and the NHS England SME Playbook, helps identify emerging innovations and informs procurement strategies so that future opportunities reflect developments in the market and evolving clinical needs. To support SME participation, the NHS Supply Chain works directly with SME suppliers through its bi-monthly SME Engagement Forum, which provides a mechanism for SMEs to raise challenges and help co-design improvements to procurement processes.

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?

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.

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?

The Government are providing local authorities with a record £7.3 billion investment in local road maintenance, giving councils the long-term certainty that they need to fix potholes, repair road defects and adopt a more preventive approach to maintenance. Some of the funding is being used to incentivise best practice and innovation. In addition, the Government have funded £30 million for Live Labs 2 programming, which is testing innovative materials, new technologies and maintenance techniques to help authorities improve road conditions while reducing costs and disruption.