Written questions by Dewhirst.

Innovation and Technology, what recent steps the Information Commissioner has taken to link (a) bonuses and (b) pay rises for staff who meet Equality, Diversity and Inclusion objectives.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the answer of 11 March 2026, to Question 110793, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Flexible Working, how many and what proportion of full-time staff on full pay (1.0 FTE) in the department work compressed hours over a four day week.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the press release, "Social media to be banned for under-16s in landmark government move to give kids their childhood back", of 15 June 2026, at what time of the evening would the overnight curfew start.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the recommendations in the National Audit Office report entitled The UK’s resilience to severe space weather, HC1737, March 2026.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, whether the Government Office for Science provides guidance to Departments on the requirements to publish Area of Research Interest.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 30 July 2024 to Question 920, on Civil Service: Artificial Intelligence, what trials have taken place on AI and public service productivity.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, if he will list the names of the organisations that have (a) had departmental Civil Servants seconded to them since July 2024, and (b) seconded organisational staff to the department.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the answer of 12 December 2024, to Question 17808, on DSIT: Equality, if he will place a copy of the updated guidance in the Library of the House.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what correspondence his Department had with Global Counsel in the period that Lord Mandelson was Ambassador to the United States.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer to Question 745 on YouTube: Safety, whether her Department sought advice from (a) the expert panel for Growing up in an Online World and (b) other experts before

In February, to assist in designing the Growing up in an Online World pilots, the Department sought advice from the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. To provide advice, Dame Angela Mclean convened a roundtable of experts from both inside and outside ...

Innovation and Technology, when she plans to reply to the correspondence of 6 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Bridlington and The Wolds on illegal content on social media platforms.

The Department apologises for the significant delay in responding to the Member’s correspondence on this occasion. I provided a full response on 5 June 2026.

Innovation and Technology, if she will investigate whether the Russian Government and its actors have been promoting disinformation on the Prime Minister’s personal life.

The government takes all allegations of attempts by foreign states to spread disinformation targeting the UK and its citizens extremely seriously. Through our whole-of-government approach, DSIT is the department responsible for the UK’s policy on disinfor...

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2026, to Question 107044, on Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Remote Working, for what reason the department does not follow the standard Civil Service 60% office attendance policy.

DSIT’s office attendance (Hybrid Working) policy allows some flexibility for minimum office attendance to reflect the capacity of the office estate. As such DSIT requires employees to spend between a minimum of 40% and 60% of their weekly working hours in the office or other official work location, and with Senior Civil Servants and Fast Stream employees expected to do so at the upper end of this range.

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 11 February 2026, to Question 110421, on Ofcom: Public Appointments, for what reason the application deadline was extended, and whether this was approved by Ministers.

The window for applications was extended to ensure that the competition attracted a strong and diverse field of candidates and to maximise the number of high‑quality applications for the role. This decision was taken in consultation with Ministers.

Innovation and Technology, how many of the recommendations of the report entitled Independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender, published on 19 March 2025 she has implemented.

The government published the independent review of data, statistics and research on 19 March 2025.The report was made available to departments and is being considered by relevant policy teams alongside ongoing policy work in this area.The Government recognises the importance of collecting accurate and relevant data on sex. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is continuing their work toward developing best practice harmonised standards for the topics of sex and gender identity.

Innovation and Technology, what the average period of time is for the Information Commissioner to decide whether to assign an Freedom of Information Internal Review request for investigation; and what is the average amount of time for any subsequent investigation and assessment to be take.

The ICO is dealing with an increase of over 30 percent in FOI cases submitted to them since April 2025. The ICO will continue to look at ways they can prioritise FOI casework and resources to ensure that case numbers can be adequately managed. Data on FOI complaints handling is available on the ICO’s website.

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2026, to Question 107041, on DSIT: Public Appointments, and to the answer of 28 January 2026, to Question 106743, on DBT: Public Appointments, how many public appointments in DSIT made a declaration of political activity.

All Public Appointees complete a political activity form as part of the application process. If appointees declare any political activity, the detail is reviewed, assessed for risk and appropriate mitigations implemented where necessary.

Innovation and Technology, what the (a) name, (b) job title, (c) annual remuneration, (d) time commitment and (e) expected end date is for each direct ministerial appointment in her Department.

Please see a list of all the Direct Ministerial Appointments (DMAs) in DSIT to date, including job title, renumeration, time commitment and expected end date.Live Appointments:Matt Clifford: the Prime Minister’s AI Opportunities Advisor. 1 day per week, Term Dates: 13/01/2024 - 13/01/2026.Dr Dan Mahoney: Life Sciences Investment Envoy. 15 days per year, Term Dates:18/11/2024 - 18/05/2026.Theo Blackwell: Local Digital Champion. 2 days per week, Term Dates: 13/01/2025 - 31/12/2025.Yoshua Bengio: International AI Safety Report Chair. 26 days per year, Term Dates: 29/01/2025 - 31/03/2026.Lord David Willetts: Regulatory Innovation Office Chair. 36 days per year, Term Dates: 07/03/2025 - 07/03/2027Steve Bates: Office for Life Sciences Executive Chair. Full-time, Term Dates: 29/09/2025 - 29/03/2027.Anne Lingford-Hughes, Peter Johnson, Hilary Evans-Newton, Nadeem Sarwar, Husseini Manji, Kathryn Abel and Naveed Sattar: OLS Healthcare Goals Chairs, 4-8 days per month, Term Dates: 30/09/2025 - 05/03/2027 (DHSC appointments with joint accountability between DHSC, DSIT and DBT)Simon Johnson, Tom Blomfield and Raia Hadsell: AI Ambassadors. 2 days per year, Term Dates: 21/11/2025 - 21/11/2026.James Wise: Sovereign AI Champion, 10 days per year. Term Dates: 21/11/2025 - 21/11/2026.Anne Marie Imafidon: Women in Tech Envoy. 20 days per year, Term Dates: 15/12/2025 - 15/06/2027.Prof. Sir Jonathan Irving Bell: Life Sciences Champions, 30 days per year, Term Dates: 01/01/2011 - 31/122025Sir Jon Symonds: Life Sciences Champions, 30 days per year, Term Dates: 01/01/2021- 31/12/2025.Appointments that have now endedMatt Clifford: Lead Reviewer of the Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. 4-8 days per month, Term Dates: 22/07/2024 - 03/09/2024.Martha Lane Fox (Co-Chair), Poppy Gustafsson, Paul Willmott (Co-Chair), Jeni Tennison, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, Lou Cordwell, Aaron Maniam, David Eaves, Sarah Hunter, Lisa Harrington, Josie Cluer and Lord Richard Allan: Digital Centre Design Panel Members. 1 day a month, Date: 30/09/2024 - 04/01/2025.Ian Hogarth: AI Safety Institute Chair. 10 days per year, Term Dates: 10/02/2025 - 09/12/2025.Appointments made before July 2024 (publicly available information)David Morris: UK Government Space Advisor. 2022 to 2024.Simon Fell: Rural Connectivity Champion. 2023 to 2024.Hilary Evans: Co-Chair for Dementia Mission. 2023 to 2024.Nadeem Sarwar: Co-Chair for the Dementia Mission. 2023 to 2024.Stephen McPartland: Chair of the McPartland Review. 2024.Alice Sullivan: Independent Reviewer of Data Collection. 2024.

Innovation and Technology, how much money has been allocated through the the UK Research and Innovation fund to research into mitochondrial diseases in each of the last five years.

The Medical Research Council (MRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), committed £55,650,000 since 2020 to research into mitochondrial disease.2020£9,283,0002021£11,063,0002022£13,416,0002023£9,738,0002024£12,150,000Additionally, MRC awarded the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit (MBU), which focuses entirely on mitochondrial disease, £39,489,000 over this period.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New mapping tool launched to help bring healthy food to those who need it most, published on 8 July 2025, who will run the state-subsidised eateries in (a) Dundee and (b) Nottingham; and if he will publish the project (a) specification and (b) plan for the DISHED: co-designing innovative infrastructure for sustainable healthy and equitable diets’ piloting public restaurants scheme.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has funded six projects under its “Health inequalities in the food system” programme, announced on 8 July 2025. These projects aim to understand the causes of dietary health inequalities and explore interventions for equitable, healthy consumption. ‘DISHED: co-designing innovative infrastructure for sustainable healthy and equitable diets’ is a funded project within this programme, which will examine different models of public restaurants in Dundee and Nottingham to assess their feasibility in current UK contexts. The project is led by an academic principal investigator. Full grant details will be published on the UKRI Gateway to Research website in due course.