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1719222

registered interest
date	20/05/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	X Corp: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Counter disinformation unit has taken to help X tackle QAon disinformation on its platform.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	27030
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>In October 2023 the Counter Disinformation Unit became the National Security and Online Information Team (the NSOIT). The name more accurately reflects the team’s revised remit and function, which is to tackle the greatest national security risks facing the UK from mis and disinformation, specifically looking at threats posed by foreign states, risks to elections and from the use of AI and deepfakes. This revised remit is kept under regular review.</p><p> </p><p>NSOIT’s remit does not include working with individual platforms to tackle mis or disinformation from certain individuals or groups. In specific circumstances, the NSOIT may share online material with platforms where it is in line with ministerial steers, is on an issue within the team’s remit, and where the content appears to be in breach of the platform’s terms of service. Social media platforms decide whether or not content is a breach of their terms of service and, if so, what action to take.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 23/05/2024 16:15:31 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland

1716525

registered interest
date	08/05/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Artificial Intelligence: Investment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to encourage investment in the UK artificial intelligence sector.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	25212
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2024 answer text <p>The UK’s AI market is valued at over $21 billion and is estimated to grow to over 1 trillion by 2035. Recently we have seen the largest investment ($1 billion) into a UK AI start-up (Wayve), with several AI companies opening their European headquarters here. Google and Microsoft have recently announced plans to invest $4.2 billion in the UK, demonstrating confidence in the UK’s approach to AI. To encourage further investment, we host the annual Global Investment Summit, we have tax incentives available for AI companies, and we are delivering £1.5bn of investment into compute, all of which will strengthen our position as an attractive place to invest.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 17/05/2024 09:07:39 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland

1716526

registered interest
date	08/05/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Disinformation: Australia
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with her Australian counterpart on the proposed Misinformation and Disinformation Bill in that country.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	25213
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2024 answer text <p>Ministers and officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology meet regularly with counterparts from other countries to share our experience and expertise and to develop common approaches to online safety. We work closely with the Government of Australia and recently signed a memorandum of understanding setting out our intention to promote regulatory coordination and jointly deliver online safety and security policy to support our citizens.</p><p> </p><p>The UK government has already delivered world-leading legislation via the Online Safety Act, which captures misinformation and disinformation where it constitutes illegal content or content which is harmful to children, and which forces the largest platforms to remove misinformation and disinformation prohibited under their Terms of Service.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 17/05/2024 09:09:51 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland

1716527

registered interest
date	08/05/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Digital Technology: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of malign actors imitating the interfaces of reputable sources on public trust in digital content.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	25214
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2024 answer text <p>It is a key priority of this government to preserve the integrity of our democratic processes and safeguard the public from interference by malign state and non-state actors, including through AI-enabled threats and manipulated media.</p><p>The Online Safety Act will tackle illegal disinformation and misinformation including state-sponsored disinformation via the Foreign Interference Offence, including deepfakes and other forms of manipulated media. This means that companies will have a legal duty to take preventative action to identify and minimise their users’ exposure to state-linked interference with UK society. Such content will need to be swiftly removed, requiring tangible action against state-backed attempts to undermine our democratic, political and legal processes.</p><p>In addition to our regulatory approach, the DSIT National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) analyses attempts by foreign states to artificially manipulate the online information environment. The NSOIT works with social media platforms to support and encourage them to put in place policies that are fit for purpose, consistently enforced, and which respect freedom of expression.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 17/05/2024 09:12:39 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland

1697964

registered interest
date	21/03/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Technology: Research
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how she plans to promote research into new models of (a) assessment and (b) support.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	19864
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/04/2024 answer text <p>The government’s November 2023 ‘<em>Response to the Independent Review of the RDI Organisational Landscape’</em> announced the creation of a new Metascience Unit, jointly run across the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), with an initial funding commitment of £10m. The unit will deliver a competitive grants programme and will also conduct experiments to test and robustly evaluate the effectiveness of changes in the funding processes delivered by UKRI.</p><p>This programme of work is intended to generate evidence on more effective ways of funding and supporting scientific research.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Arundel and South Downs answering member printed Andrew Griffith question first answered 02/04/2024 09:34:25 answering member 4874 label Biography information for Andrew Griffith
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland

1692836

registered interest
date	29/02/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Artificial Intelligence
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to tackle the proliferation of malign AI generated content farms.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	16339
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2024 answer text <p>The Government takes the issue of information threats to national security very seriously, including threats posed by foreign states, and the use of AI and deepfakes. DSIT works closely across government and with social media platforms, civil society groups, academia, and international partners, to tackle these risks.</p><p> </p><p>DSIT’s National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) is focused on threats from foreign states, as well as risks emerging from the use of deepfakes to imitate elected leaders and interfere with elections and the use of bots to drive disinformation and fuel division.</p><p> </p><p>The Online Safety Act will also address a range of threats posed by AI. The Act will force companies to take action against illegal content online, including illegal AI-generated content, and will require companies to take steps to remove this illegal content if they become aware of it on their services. This includes the Foreign Interference Offence, which has been added as a priority offence in the Act, forcing companies to remove a wide range of state-sponsored disinformation and state-linked interference online.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 08/03/2024 12:46:53 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland

1687530

registered interest
date	05/02/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Social Media: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle digital astroturfing on social media.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	13003
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2024 answer text <p>The Government recognises the range of tactics which could be employed to spread mis- and disinformation and the threat that these can pose. DSIT’s National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) analyses coordinated attempts to artificially manipulate the online information environment, working with a range of partners, including social media platforms, civil society groups, academia, and international partners, to tackle it.</p><p> </p><p>Digital astroturfing, amongst other techniques sometimes used by state actors to interfere with UK society, will be captured by the Foreign Interference Offence. This has been added as a priority offence in the Online Safety Act and will capture a wide range of state-sponsored disinformation and state-backed operations. Companies will have a legal duty to take proactive action to prevent users from encountering material that amounts to an offence of Foreign Interference, which could include content linked to digital astroturfing, and minimise how long any such content is present on their services.</p><p> </p><p>Under the Act, Ofcom’s Disinformation Advisory Committee is empowered to conduct research and build understanding on mis- and disinformation related issues, which may include the threats posed by digital astroturfing. In addition, Ofcom’s updated statutory duty to promote media literacy includes specific duties to raise the public’s awareness of how to keep themselves and others safe online, including by understanding the nature and impact of mis- and disinformation. This could include initiatives related to specific malicious tactics.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 13/02/2024 13:53:36 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland

1666834

registered interest
date	24/10/2023
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Artificial Intelligence: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether British companies will have access to European Innovation Council funding for solutions to (a) bias and (b) discrimination in AI systems following the UK's re-admission to Horizon.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	204015
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2023 answer text <p>UK applicants will be able to participate in the full Horizon Europe programme and UK entities are eligible to receive grant funding through all instruments of the European Innovation Council. The UK is not part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund – which provides equity finance support to EIC Accelerator projects.</p> answering member constituency Mid Norfolk answering member printed George Freeman question first answered 26/10/2023 08:26:42 answering member 4020 label Biography information for George Freeman
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland

1666835

registered interest
date	24/10/2023
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	AI, Data, Robotics Forum
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether representatives from (a) the Government and (b) British industry will attend the European AI, Data and Robotics Forum on 8 and 9 November 2023.
tabling member constituency	South Swindon
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Buckland
uin	204016
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2023 answer text <p>Given the proximity of the Safety Summit to the European AI, Data and Robotics Forum on 8 and 9 of November, the Government will not be sending any Ministers or officials to the event. However, both UK Government Ministers and officials participate in European technology-focused events, with an SCS-led official delegation attending the IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals) Europe Data Protection Conference this November, which will seek to facilitate our EU data objectives.</p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 26/10/2023 10:51:10 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland