The fiscal inheritance demanded tough choices in order to fix our public services, to create long-term growth and investment that supports businesses.

Through our plan for small and medium sized businesses we have sought to protect and enable SMEs to prosper.

There is limited conclusive evidence AI is reducing employment. However, the pace of technological change means government is acting now to ensure we are prepared. The AI Economics Institute will monitor impacts on jobs and skills to ensure we can respond quickly, alongside investment in training and lifelong learning to help people adapt and prepare for future jobs.

The government is committed to building a digitally skilled workforce to support long-term economic growth, drive innovation and expand individual opportunity. As part of this ambition, DSIT has launched the AI Skills Boost campaign to upskill 10 million workers in AI skills by 2030.

As of 24 April 2026, there were 65,965 registered learners on the AI Skills Hub. The AI Skills Hub also hosts the AI Skills Boost programme, which delivered over 1 million courses between June 2025 and January 2026. A further progress update will be shared shortly.

We are committed to ensuring the UK is the leading adopter of AI in the G7, and the Government will look at how regulation, data and access to finance can support adoption including by working closely with sectoral AI Champions to identify new solutions.

High-quality digital connectivity underpins the UK’s digital capabilities, including the adoption of AI technologies across different sectors of the UK economy. This is why we are futureproofing the UK’s networks, with a target to deliver 99% gigabit broadband coverage by 2032 and an ambition for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G coverage by 2030.

ARIA was established by Parliament to independently fund high-risk, high-reward research. More than 80% of its funding goes to UK-based teams, and where funding goes abroad, it comes with conditions to ensure it delivers long-term benefits for the UK, such as requirements to establish UK operations or carry out activity in the UK.

Energy prices are a critical factor in the cost and competitiveness of operating AI infrastructure in the UK, but they are one of several key considerations, alongside access to reliable grid capacity, a strong digital services market, a highly developed economy and access to skilled talent. These factors must be considered in the round, as they collectively influence and shape investment decisions.

We are working closely with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Business and Trade, Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator on energy pricing, to ensure that we can attract sufficient investment in infrastructure and deliver on our ambition of being a global leader in AI.

The Managing Partner of the Sovereign AI Fund has been appointed following a three-month, competitive, five-stage recruitment process involving over 60 candidates. She was judged the strongest candidate on merit against the skills and experience required. This is a Civil Service appointment. Ministers were not involved in the recruitment process and had no decision-making authority over the outcome.

The United States is our close ally and tech partner, and we are committed to ensuring that bond delivers real benefits for hardworking people on both sides of the Atlantic.

We continue to have ministerial-level discussions with the US administration on science and technology, including on joint initiatives in the Tech Prosperity Deal.

The Department does not hold information centrally on the procurement dates of individual chips used within the Isambard AI and Dawn AI Research Resource clusters.

Hardware for both systems was procured by delivery partners as part of wider system procurements, with components ordered and delivered in phases to support system build, integration and commissioning. Procurement activity therefore spans a period of time and is not recorded against single dates for individual components.

As a result, the Department is not able to provide specific procurement dates for the chips in July 2024, July 2025, or April 2026.

The AI Growth Lab would be a cross-economy AI sandbox which would enable responsible AI products and services to be deployed under close supervision in live markets. This will unlock cross-economy growth, drive trust and create a mechanism for dynamic, evidence-led regulatory reform.

From 21st October 2025 – 7th January 2026, the Government ran a call for evidence on the AI Growth Lab, asking innovators and regulators. The insights will inform further policy development and the identification of priority areas for the AI Growth Lab.

The Chancellor announced plans to legislate for the AI Growth Lab in her 2026 Mais Lecture and the King’s Speech confirmed the intention to introduce the Regulating for Growth Bill. We will set out further details shortly.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The Sovereign AI Fund has not made any public sector datasets accessible for technology firms under MoUs or partnership agreements to date.

We are investing up to £2 billion in public compute infrastructure until 2030. This will deliver a new national supercomputer in Edinburgh and expand our AI Research Resource (AIRR) twentyfold by 2030. The volume of compute capacity at the AIRR’s two supercomputing clusters at the specified points in time was as follows:

July 2024: Neither the Isambard‑AI cluster in Bristol nor the Dawn cluster in Cambridge was fully operational at this point. Isambard‑AI remained under construction. Dawn was not yet publicly operational, although a limited early access environment was available using around 400 Intel AI accelerator chips to support early users and system commissioning.

July 2025: The AIRR was launched and became operational. Isambard‑AI comprised approximately 5,448 NVIDIA AI accelerator chips, forming the UK’s flagship national AI supercomputer. Dawn comprised approximately 1,024 Intel AI accelerator chips, providing complementary AI‑optimised compute capability.

April 2026: Isambard‑AI continued to operate with approximately 5,448 NVIDIA AI accelerator chips, unchanged from launch. Dawn continued to operate with approximately 1,024 Intel AI accelerator chips.

The United States is our close ally and tech partner. We continue to have regular discussions with the US administration on science and technology. This includes discussions on future governance and delivery timelines for the joint initiatives under the Tech Prosperity Deal.

Ministers recently hosted senior US counterparts at the Quantum Development Group meeting in London.

The Intellectual Property Office is continuing to analyse responses to its consultation on Standard Essential Patents and will publish its response in due course.

The Government is committed to ensuring its AI partnerships benefit the UK AI ecosystem and support public and private sector capacity, innovation and long-term UK capability. Engagement with international technology companies is critical to bring world leading capabilities, expertise, and infrastructure to the UK.

The MoUs signed in 2025 with international frontier AI companies provide a framework for voluntary collaboration, allowing the Government and its partners to explore areas of mutual interest—such as innovation, safety, and responsible development.

These partnerships sit alongside a wider approach to build a diverse and competitive UK AI ecosystem. The Government is strengthening competition and innovation at home by backing British AI companies through the £500 million Sovereign AI Fund , expanding public compute via the AI Research Resource, and supporting startups and scaleups across the AI value chain.

The Government also works closely with independent competition and regulatory authorities to ensure markets remain open and competitive, with existing competition and procurement frameworks applying to AI partnerships as they do in other sectors.

In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns, including barriers that may limit customer choice and make it harder for businesses to switch or run workloads across competing cloud providers on equivalent terms. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers.

The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.

The Government is committed to supporting a competitive and innovative digital economy. In July 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that certain technical and commercial practices in the cloud market hinder switching and limit effective competition. The CMA recommended its Board prioritise a future Strategic Market Status investigation into cloud competition.

In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns with clear negative impacts for UK businesses, consumers and the public sector.

The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.

In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers.

The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. Neither the Secretary of State nor Ministers have discussed future SMS prioritisation decisions with the CMA. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.

In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers.

The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.