Written questions by Bloore.

What recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of AI automation on government consultancy spending.

Awaiting answer.

What steps he is taking through the Data and AI Ethics Framework to ensure the transparency and accuracy of generative AI in the drafting of ministerial advice.

Awaiting answer.

What steps the Government Communication Service is taking to implement cryptographic authentication and digital watermarking on official media to prevent the dissemination of deepfake government content.

Awaiting answer.

What cross-government contingency planning is in place for major cyber incidents affecting critical supply chains.

Cyber attacks are increasing in scale and impact; they are slowing the UK’s economic growth and damaging our national security. The UK Government has an existing national process to manage the response to major cyber incidents: the national cyber incident categorisation system is published on NCSC.GOV.UK. The Government, alongside the National Cyber Security Centre, engages with regulators and critical national infrastructure operators to ensure resilience and preparedness to cyber threats, working to better understand and manage cyber risk, and minimise the impact of cyber incidents when they occur. The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will also support this, by boosting UK cyber defences and improving the cyber security of our essential public and digital services.

What consideration he has given to the potential merits of introducing a national framework with clear criteria for intervention in major cyber incidents to strengthen economic resilience.

Cyber attacks are increasing in scale and impact; they are slowing the UK’s economic growth and damaging our national security. The UK Government has an existing national process to manage the response to major cyber incidents: the national cyber incident categorisation system is published on NCSC.GOV.UK. The Government, alongside the National Cyber Security Centre, engages with regulators and critical national infrastructure operators to ensure resilience and preparedness to cyber threats, working to better understand and manage cyber risk, and minimise the impact of cyber incidents when they occur. The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will also support this, by boosting UK cyber defences and improving the cyber security of our essential public and digital services.

What estimate he has made of the cost of maintaining a consistent interpretation and application of the proposed EHRC Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions, and Associations across different business sectors.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is independent of government. The purpose of the EHRC’s Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations is to ensure or facilitate compliance with the Equality Act 2010 or an enactment made under that Act. The EHRC has opened its consultation on the draft updated statutory Code of Practice, seeking views from affected stakeholders. We encourage all those affected stakeholders to submit a response to the consultation. We will then consider the EHRC’s updated draft once they have submitted it.

What estimate he has made of the cost to the Civil Service of implementing the proposed EHRC Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions, and Associations.

At this time, no such estimate has been made, as that code remains in draft and is currently subject to consultation.

Whether her Department offers (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers.

The Cabinet Office does not currently specifically offer (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers. However, the Cabinet Office has other mechanisms in place to support employees who are kinship carers, in parity with other forms of care leave.