Written questions by Onwurah.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in employer National Insurance contributions on levels of youth employment in the North East.

A detailed assessment of the policy has been published by HMRC in their Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN). The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) also publishes Economic and Fiscal Outlooks (EFOs), which set out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances. With all policies considered, the OBR's March 2025 EFO forecasts the employment level to increase from 33.6 million in 2024 to 34.8 million in 2029. This Government is committed to providing young people with the best start to their working lives. We have committed to deliver a Youth Guarantee so that all 18 to 21-year-olds in England have access to education, training or help to find a job or an apprenticeship. The Government is also expanding Sector-based Work Academy Programmes to provide 100,000 places in 2025/26, providing a work placement, training and a guaranteed interview that can kickstart a new career and support young people into work.

Whether her Department has requested that the Office for Budget Responsibility assess the potential fiscal impacts of artificial intelligence.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the Government's official independent forecaster responsible for assessing the UK economic and fiscal outlook. All judgements underpinning these forecasts, including estimates of the impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI), are for the OBR and the OBR has discretion over the contents of its publications.

If she will request that the Office for Budget Responsibility model an AI-accelerated productivity scenario alongside potential fiscal risks for (a) climate change, (b) demographic and (c) other trends.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the Government's official independent forecaster responsible for assessing the UK economic and fiscal outlook. All judgements underpinning these forecasts, including estimates of the impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI), are for the OBR and the OBR has discretion over the contents of its publications.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the levels of resilience in the UK tax system of a shift from labour-intensive to capital-intensive economic models.

It is vital the tax system supports our growth mission. The Government is focused on unleashing the potential of people across all nations and regions of the UK, with an ambition of an 80 per cent employment rate. The Government continues to keep all elements of the tax system under review.

What steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) availability and (b) portability of (i) digital infrastructure and (ii) IT services at Jobcentre Plus locations, in the context of support for (A) staff and (B) public users in accessing jobs and careers services through (1) self-service technologies, (2) artificial intelligence, (3) employer suites, (4) self-service screens and (5) other portable access points.

We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. Our vision is for a Jobs and Careers service where people can access support through the channels that best meet their needs – digital where possible, human when needed. We are testing a range of flexible and accessible delivery mechanisms. These include early assessment of user needs, determining the appropriate course of action; Self-service check-in stations; Strategically placed digital screens, displaying local job opportunities; A dedicated customer TechBar, providing digital support; Multifunctional Hubs, supported by conferencing functionality. We are also testing bringing our core services directly to communities to meet underserved groups using mobile vehicles and pop-ups. In addition to these wider digital changes are underway that will include the update and rollout of revised customer computer systems. Furthermore, dedicated funding has been earmarked to support wider proof of concept testing including In-person transcription and summarisation; Real time translation capabilities; Video-based access to providers/suppliers. The insight gained throughout these tests will help to shape our future service model.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the importance of industrial heritage to the culture of historically industrial (a) cities and (b) towns.

DCMS has not made a formal assessment of the importance of industrial heritage to the culture of historically industrial cities and towns. However, this government is dedicated to supporting Britain's industrial heritage. Historic England, the government's statutory adviser on the historic environment is funded by DCMS and is actively engaged in the protection, conservation, reuse and public presentation of England’s industrial heritage.As an example, many of Historic England's High Street Heritage Action Zones, funded by DCMS in 2019 -2024 has revitalised 67 historic high streets across England, and focused on industrial heritage, including the 200 year celebration of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Historic England’s Mills of the North project looks to promote textile mill reuse to provide much needed new homes, accommodate businesses and mixed uses playing a positive role in wider regeneration.Historic England recently acquired Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, a key Industrial Revolution site, and is undergoing a £28.4 million conservation project to bring it back into public use.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support Britain's industrial heritage.

DCMS has not made a formal assessment of the importance of industrial heritage to the culture of historically industrial cities and towns. However, this government is dedicated to supporting Britain's industrial heritage. Historic England, the government's statutory adviser on the historic environment is funded by DCMS and is actively engaged in the protection, conservation, reuse and public presentation of England’s industrial heritage.As an example, many of Historic England's High Street Heritage Action Zones, funded by DCMS in 2019 -2024 has revitalised 67 historic high streets across England, and focused on industrial heritage, including the 200 year celebration of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Historic England’s Mills of the North project looks to promote textile mill reuse to provide much needed new homes, accommodate businesses and mixed uses playing a positive role in wider regeneration.Historic England recently acquired Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, a key Industrial Revolution site, and is undergoing a £28.4 million conservation project to bring it back into public use.

How her Department plans to quantify the (a) costs and (b) savings associated with the adoption of artificial intelligence in (i) health, (ii) defence, (iii) education and (iv) other public services; and whether she considered including such an assessment in the recent Fiscal Risks and Sustainability report.

The government has committed to invest in upgrading essential digital infrastructure, modernise public services and drive a major overhaul in government productivity and efficiency by harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Spending Review 2025 sets out plans for a step change in investment in digital and AI across public services, including an uplift of £1.2 billion for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to drive forward cross-cutting digital and AI priorities.HM Treasury has not made a central assessment of AI adoption costs and savings in each public service area. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) provides independent analysis of the UK's public finances and publishes the Fiscal Risk and Sustainability Report and, as such, determine the scope and details within the report. The OBR has full discretion over the judgements underpinning their forecasts.

Whether her Department has produced internal modelling on the potential fiscal impacts of artificial intelligence.

The OBR is the government's official forecaster and is responsible for assessing the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook. Its annual publication of its Fiscal Risks and Sustainability (FRS) report includes biennial long-term projections and analysis of major potential fiscal risks. The OBR includes a long-run productivity assumption in its forecasts. In its July 2025 long-run report, it noted that if productivity grows faster than expected it could significantly improve the outlook for the public finances. One driver for stronger-than expected productivity growth is the rapid development and spread of artificial intelligence. However, the magnitude and timing of the potential boost to productivity remains highly uncertain.

Media and Sport, how many full-time equivalent staff in her Department are working on (a) promoting and (b) preserving Britain's industrial heritage; and if she will make it her policy to publish a strategy on the restoration of industrial heritage.

Historic England, the government's statutory adviser on the historic environment, is responsible for managing and protecting heritage, including industrial heritage, across the country. As well as funding Historic England, the government announced new, additional funding for heritage in 2025/26 - £15m for the Heritage At Risk fund and £4.85m for the Heritage Revival Fund.Within the Department for Culture Media and Sport, there is a small team that oversees Historic England, a team delivering heritage policy, and the designation of listed buildings and monuments. There are no current plans to publish a strategy on the restoration of industrial heritage but for all these workstands, industrial heritage is an important part of what they do and we will look at what more we can do to preserve and restore significant sites and structures.

Whether her Department's long-term fiscal modelling includes assumptions on the potential impact of artificial intelligence on levels of productivity.

The OBR is the government's official forecaster and is responsible for assessing the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook. Its annual publication of its Fiscal Risks and Sustainability (FRS) report includes biennial long-term projections and analysis of major potential fiscal risks. The OBR includes a long-run productivity assumption in its forecasts. In its July 2025 long-run report, it noted that if productivity grows faster than expected it could significantly improve the outlook for the public finances. One driver for stronger-than expected productivity growth is the rapid development and spread of artificial intelligence. However, the magnitude and timing of the potential boost to productivity remains highly uncertain.

What assessment he has made of the potential (a) financial and (b) clinical impact of the Zimmer Biomet NexGen Legacy Posterior Stabilized (LPS) knee replacement system on the NHS.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a field safety notice (FSN) in December 2022 about some devices in the NexGen family of knee implants. The FSN was issued following notification by the National Joint Registry (NJR) Implant Scrutiny Committee in 2021.The NexGen Stemmed Option Tibial Component was removed from the market because of that notice, although only use in combination with LPS Flex or LPS Flex GSF femoral components demonstrated higher revision rates, and only patients receiving the combination of devices were recommended to be reviewed.As is standard with joint replacement FSNs, the NJR supplied hospitals with a list of all the patients who had this combination implant and were still alive and had not already had a revision procedure. This represented 9,125 cases from 102 hospitals. This all happened within 48 hours of the FSN being issued. For context, 11,965 of these were implanted if patients who had died or been revised were included.In terms of the clinical impact, the NJR had first been asked to investigate use of high flex NexGen knees by a surgeon in 2014. Although the data did not meet the outlier threshold at that time, NJR did inform the MHRA because there appeared to be a particular mechanism of failure with these devices, namely tibial loosening. The MHRA followed its standard process of discussing the concerns with the manufacturer and the matter was closed since the data did not demonstrate a case to answer. NJR reported this again in 2021, by which time the data was more robust and the signal was stronger.At the time for an implant to be rated 10A, which is a measure of implant success, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), a failure rate of 10% at 10 years was used. This has recently been changed to a failure rate of 5% at 10 years.The failure rate of this implant combination at 10 years is 7%, which is still under the 10% threshold advocated by NICE. It is important that these patients remain under clinical and radiological review.NJR has made no assessment of the financial impact of the NexGen family of knee implants.

What assessment he has made of the potential economic impact of the UK-US trade deal on businesses in the North East.

The Prime Minister, Business Secretary and other Ministers across government have been engaging widely on the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal (EPD) with business organisations and companies from across the economy, including in the North East.This deal protects jobs in the automotive, steel, aluminium, pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors - sectors that employ over 320,000 people across the UK and almost 26,000 people in the North East in particular. The EPD provides much needed certainty and confidence, which is crucial for supporting a robust UK supply chain in these industries

What steps he is taking to ensure that SMEs are not required to submit the same data to different government (a) departments and (b) agencies.

We want to free up business owners to focus on running their businesses and our SME Strategy will set out steps to reduce duplication and streamline data-sharing across Government.This includes simplifying and digitising forms and exploring how services like GOV.UK One Login could offer businesses a more joined-up experience. The Prime Minister has committed to cutting the administrative cost of regulation by 25% by the end of this Parliament. By removing duplication and making services more responsive, we will help SMEs save time and money, enabling them to innovate, grow and drive economic prosperity.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the UK’s 2025 Trade Strategy on (a) economic growth and (b) employment in the North East.

The Government published its Trade Strategy on 26 June, which was positively received by business. The Government will work closely with stakeholders on the implementation of the strategy, to ensure that resources are prioritised to deliver on key commitments to enhance economic growth and employment opportunities right across the UK including the North East, such as opening new export and market opportunities and strengthening our trade defence capabilities.

Innovation and Technology, if he will steps to ensure that the proposed Cyber Security and Resilience Bill supports the establishment of common levels of cyber security with the UK's international partners.

The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will better safeguard UK national security by strengthening our cyber defences and ensuring the essential and digital services people and businesses rely on every day are better protected.Cyber threats do not respect borders, and the nature of digital technology means we are all fundamentally interconnected. The UK is tackling similar challenges to those faced by governments across the globe. Businesses operating across borders are also reckoning with this threat and adjusting practices to comply with regulation in other jurisdictions as well as in the UK.The Bill is being designed with these issues in mind and government is continuing to actively engage with our international partners on its development and on our shared cyber issues. We will continue to seek harmonisation and commonality in cyber security and risk mitigation where appropriate through the design and implementation of the Bill.

Innovation and Technology, whether his Department holds data on the number of vacancies in the science and technology sectors in London.

DSIT does not hold vacancy data specifically for the Science and Technology Sectors in London.

What steps her Department is taking to support universities in (a) meeting student recruitment and (b) space targets in the context of current immigration policies.

The government has been clear that we welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK. Higher education (HE) providers in the UK hosted 732,285 international students in the 2023/24 academic year, who come from all over the world and benefit UK HE and our society as a whole, boosting our economy by more than £21 billion a year.The government is currently reviewing the UK’s International Education Strategy to ensure that it aligns with wider government policy and provides clear direction to the sector, including on international student recruitment.Further, the department and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are working to ensure that the UK space sector can access the skills and talent needed to grow whilst ensuring long-term investment and growth of the domestic talent pool, in line with the Immigration White Paper and the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan.This may include collaborative working on the 2025/26 Space Sector Skills Survey, or closer engagement in key sector-facing and ministerial forums on space, all of which will be key to advising the government on how to achieve the right balance of international talent and domestic opportunity.

What his planned timeline is for the rollout of innovation and growth hubs in London; what level of economic investment is expected to be allocated to those hubs in London over the next five years; and what criteria will be used to determine the location and focus of innovation and growth hubs in the UK.

The government is supporting innovation clusters nationwide, including the Department for Science and Innovation and Technology (DIST) led £500 million Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, with at least £30 million allocated to London and additional funding available through competitive bidding for other regions.The Department for Business and Trade provide core funding to 41 Growth Hubs across England, with £15 million (including £540,700 for Grow London Local) committed for 2025/26. These offer businesses support and advice across all sectors and stages.

What assessment she has made of the contribution of science and discovery centres to (a) UK STEM education, skills and career pathways, (b) inclusion and (c) public understanding of science.

The department has no formal relationship with science and discovery centres and has therefore not made an assessment of their impact on education. We know many schools work with partners to enrich and supplement students’ core curriculum.