Every parliamentary written question tabled by Chi Onwurah this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 301–320 of 369 · this parliament
Food and Rural Affairs, whether the National Food Strategy will include the role of (a) alternative proteins and (b) engineering biology in the food supply.
Our ambitious food strategy will set and deliver clear long-term outcomes that create a healthier, fairer, and more resilient food system, and in doing so will consider elements of the food system that can contribute towards those outcomes.
Innovation and Technology, with reference to the State of the relationship report 2024, published by the National Centre for Universities and Business on 5 December 2024, what steps he is taking to increase the number of interactions between businesses and universities.
The Government incentivises university-business interactions through funding for UKRI programmes. Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF), provided through Research England is the largest source of knowledge exchange funding to English universities, providing £280 million annually to support engagement with a range of partners, including businesses. HEIF includes a £20 million contribution specifically for university-business collaboration and commercialisation. Innovate UK’s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs)programme links businesses with technical experts in UK universities. Currently, around 800 businesses, 100 knowledge bases (universities and other research organisations) and over 800 graduates are involved in KTPs.
Food and Rural Affairs, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on the potential for joint working on the proposed food strategy.
The issues the food sector faces cut across the work of many Departments, and also of Devolved Governments. Development of the strategy will be led by Defra, but this work will require a whole-of-government effort with involvement from several other Government departments, including the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.
Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to increase the transparency in the use of artificial intelligence by public bodies.
The Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard (ATRS) establishes a standardised way for public sector organisations to publish information about how and why they are using algorithmic tools. The ATRS is mandatory for government departments and arm’s-length bodies (ALBs), for algorithmic tools which have a significant influence on a decision-making process with public effect, or directly interact with the general public.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the UK-Nigeria joint communiqué, published on 6 November 2024, what support for humanitarian action is included in the new UK-Nigeria Strategic Partnership.
In the Financial Year 2024/25, UK humanitarian support to Nigeria totalled £33.5 million in life-saving assistance and has reached approximately 1 million people with our Humanitarian and Resilience Programme (HARP), reducing mortality and increasing resilience for people with the most severe humanitarian needs. This assistance is one part of our development partnership with Nigeria - an important component of the new UK-Nigeria Strategic Partnership.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the expansion of immunisation programs in northern Nigeria.
The UK supports immunisation programmes in Nigeria through GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation), the public-private global alliance that has helped vaccinate more than half the world's children against some of the world's deadliest diseases. The UK's contribution to GAVI is £1.65 billion over five years (2021-2025). Nigeria will receive over $1 billion in funding from GAVI between 2018 and 2028, one of the largest of any country. The UK continues to work with the Government of Nigeria to strengthen health systems in Northern Nigeria, which are crucial for ensuring access to life-saving vaccinations for the poorest and most vulnerable.
Innovation and Technology, whether the Government Office for Technology Transfer has a role in supporting his Department to provide digital expertise to other Government Departments.
No. GOTT works with government departments and Arm’s Length Bodies to accelerate government’s innovations towards the market, through guidance, direct practical expert support, grant funding for specific opportunities, and access to networks.
Innovation and Technology, with reference to the oral evidence to the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee of 3 December 2024, HC 504, whether the moratorium on government IT procurement decisions over £1 million is still in place; and how many requests for IT procurement have been (a) considered, (b) approved and (c) rejected since the implementation of the moratorium.
The moratorium on government IT procurement decisions over £1m (now known as the Digital Assurance Gateway) is still in place. The Integrated Corporate Services Digital Assurance Team and Central Digital and Data Office have considered 11 spend requests for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and its Arm’s Length Bodies against the gateway criteria since it was introduced on 14 August 2024, and none were rejected.
Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) housing costs and (b) the cost of living on (i) start-ups and (ii) innovation in the (A) science and (B) technology sectors.
DSIT supports startups and innovation across the UK, including through the UK’s innovation agency - Innovate UK. Over the last two years, Innovate UK has awarded £5.2 billion funding to more than 7,000 businesses across the UK.Innovate UK published the State of Innovation 2024 report on 6 December. This draws on data from over 2,000 UK businesses, to provide a view of businesses’ innovation activities, challenges and plans for the year ahead.The report does not specifically assess housing costs and cost of living, but assesses trends in barriers to innovation, including the cost of doing business, which will include these areas.
What steps she is taking to help improve the accessibility of information at bus stops for disabled people.
The government wants everyone to have access to public transport and is committed to improving services so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity. On October 1st, the first phase of the Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023 came into force, meaning that newer vehicles providing local services must provide audible and visible information on stops, destinations and diversions. The majority of services will need to comply by October 2026. Local authorities are responsible for the bus stops and shelters in their area, however the government will work with the sector to help drive improvements to real time information at bus stops as part of the government’s wider plans to deliver better bus services for passengers.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2024 to Question 12938 on Research Finance, what proportion of the £500m allocated to his Department for spend on research and development in 2024-25 was classified as official development assistance.
We are still in the financial year 2024-25 so the FCDO will not have final full year numbers until April 2025. However, at the start of the year, £500 million of ODA was allocated to research & development in FCDO.
Innovation and Technology, which Minister is responsible for the interface between innovation and business to drive growth.
The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation is responsible for Innovation across the Missions, including the Growth Mission. However, a wide range of DSIT’s policy areas support businesses and contribute to innovation-led growth, and therefore all Ministers will have an interest. A full list of Ministerial responsibilities is at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-ministers-and-responsibilities.
Pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2024 to Question 16156 on Turing Scheme: Free School Meals, how many and what proportion of students with Turing grants are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Through the Turing Scheme, in the 2024/25 academic year, education providers and other eligible organisations from across the UK and British Overseas Territories have been allocated over £105 million to send their students on more than 43,000 study and work placements across the globe. Around 23,000 (53%) of these opportunities will be for participants from disadvantaged backgrounds.Information on the number and proportion of disadvantaged students in previous years of the Turing Scheme is available at the following links:2021/22 Academic Year: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/funding-opportunities/funding-results-2021-to-2022/.2022/23 Academic Year: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/funding-opportunities/funding-results-2022-23/.2023/24 Academic Year: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/funding-opportunities/funding-results-2023-to-2024/.For the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, the figures are subject to change following quality assurance of providers’ final reports of the placements that took place. This data will be published in due course.
Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 between Microsoft and the Crown Commercial Service, what guidance is available to civil servants on securing official documents held online.
Everyone who works with government has a duty of confidentiality and a responsibility to safeguard any government information or data that they access or share, and all government departments are required to meet a range of mandatory security standards. The ‘Government Security Classifications Policy’ and ‘Guidance 1.1: Working at OFFICIAL’ set a range of baseline security behaviours and controls for all civil servants to follow on how to process OFFICIAL information securely, wherever it is collected, stored, processed or shared across HMG (electronically, in hardcopy or verbally) and with the wider public sector and external partners. Government departments and other public sector organisations are responsible for ensuring civil servants understand their duties and responsibilities.Departments have Knowledge and Information Management professionals, and Digital and Data professionals, to help configure access permissions and other protections within their cloud based systems, such as within Microsoft 365.Microsoft has produced various pieces of guidance for the UK government, in partnership with the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), Government Security Group and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). These have been created to support government organisations that use Microsoft 365. They outline how to configure the Microsoft 365 platform to enable a secure and interoperable experience for civil servants operating at the OFFICIAL tier.
What steps she is taking to help improve the provision of real time information at bus stops.
The government knows how important it is that passengers have better access to information about bus services. In 2020, the Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations were passed which utilised the powers from the Bus Services Act to require bus operators in England outside of London to share high-quality, accurate and up-to-date timetables, fares and location data. To facilitate this, the Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was subsequently launched in 2020. Local authorities are responsible for the bus stops and shelters in their area, however the government will work with the sector to help drive improvements to real time information at bus stops as part of the government’s wider plans to deliver better bus services for passengers.
Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 between Microsoft and the Crown Commercial Service, what guidance is available to civil servants on the use of Microsoft Co-pilot.
The Generative AI Framework provides general guidance for civil servants using AI tools. The government is, in addition, currently evaluating Microsoft 365 Copilot via a formal experiment, the findings of which will feed into future guidance for civil servants. Training has been supplied centrally to increase the efficacy of Microsoft 365 Copilot alongside material on Civil service Learn on generative AI to raise awareness of benefits, limitations and risks of Generative AI tools, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft's agreement with its Public Sector customers ensures enhanced privacy assurance on Microsoft 365 Copilot, including a commitment that end-user prompts are not used to train external large language models.
Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Government’s response to the Independent Review of the UK’s Research, Development and Innovation Organisational Landscape, what steps he has taken to explore a sustainable source of funding for Public Sector Research Establishments to support them to undertake grant-based research funded at less than full economic cost.
There is a commitment in the response to the landscape review to investigate a sustainable source of funding for PSREs who undertake UKRI research funded at less than full economic cost.Work is in the scoping phase and we are continuing to explore ways to improve the landscape and ease of collaboration across the sector, including for PSREs.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2024 to Question 11881 on Research Finance, what proportion of the £335m allocated to his Department for spend on research and development in 2025-26 will be classified as official development assistance.
Following the spending review phase one settlement letters from HM Treasury (to which PQ 11881 refers), the FCDO is running an internal process to be agreed with Ministers, to decide on internal allocations for 2025-26. This will include allocations of Official Development Assistance.
Pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2024 to Question 16157 on Railways: Nationalisation, whether her Department plans to maintain regional livery as railway franchises are brought into public ownership.
The Department has not assessed the potential merits of maintaining regional livery as railway franchises are brought back into public ownership.
Innovation and Technology, what training civil servants in his Department receive on the public sector equality duty.
In June 2024, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published updated guidance on the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), available to all staff via the intranet. The guidance provides a clear framework on the principles of the duty, compliance expectations, and conducting equality impact assessments. Staff were encouraged to use this resource to support their work.In addition, a PSED training video was included in the Policy Foundation Programme, run on DSIT's behalf by the Integrated Shared Services. The first cohort took place on 18th November 2024.