Written questions by Cartlidge.

Innovation and Technology, what is the maximum amount of investment that the National Security Investment Fund can provide.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what is the average amount of funding provided by the National Security Investment Fund in financial years (a) 2024-25, (b) 2025-26 and (c) 2026-27.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what is the minimum amount of investment that the National Security Investment Fund can provide.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the designation of life sciences infrastructure on the life sciences sector.

The designation of Life sciences as key national infrastructure will ensure that the Life Science sector can effectively operate in the UK, ensuring that the UK can maintain necessary health and resilience capabilities.

Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the safety of children online in South Suffolk constituency.

The Online Safety Act requires services to protect children in the UK, including South Suffolk, from illegal and harmful content online.Services regulated by the Act are required to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from encountering the most harmful content including pornography, and put in place age-appropriate protections from other harmful content, including violence and bullying. These protections have been in force since July 2025. We continue to monitor the Act’s effectiveness and will not hesitate to take further action to protect children online if evidence shows this is necessary.

Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to introduce technological standards on the use of AI.

The use of AI varies by sector, and sector specific standards are starting to take shape, for example self-driving cars will now be in the UK from next year thanks to new standards from DFT.The Government supports the development and adoption of technical AI standards through international processes such as the ISO and IEC, driven by an inclusive multistakeholder community, in a way that can provide practical guidance for organisations deploying AI, reduce barriers to innovation and help unlock the opportunities AI offers.At the same time, some AI systems are more general-purpose. For these AI systems, we have built a strong AI group in DSIT, including the world-class AI Security Institute that tests frontier AI models before release.

Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of using the Price Per Premise model rather than the Passive Infrastructure Access model with regard to rural broadband infrastructure pricing.

We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product. We are engaging with Ofcom on this issue. In July, we published a consultation on our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices. We are reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with Ofcom on the impact Physical Infrastructure Access costs have on the deployment of fibre optic broadband in rural areas.

As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.My officials are regularly engaging with Ofcom, including on PIA, to ensure that we have the right regulatory environment in place to promote competition and investment in the fibre roll-out across the UK, including in rural areas.Ofcom is finalising its Telecoms Access Review that will set PIA rental charges from 1 April 2026. In the Review, they will set out whether they will introduce changes following their consultation on their proposed TAR decisions.

Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to include recommendations relating to Passive Infrastructure Access pricing structures in the next Statement of Strategic Priorities to Ofcom.

We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product. We are engaging with Ofcom on this issue. In July, we published a consultation on our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices. We are reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.

Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has considered recommending changes to Ofcom’s Passive Infrastructure Access pricing structure as part of the Telecoms Access Review.

We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product. We are engaging with Ofcom on this issue. In July, we published a consultation on our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices. We are reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.

Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with Ofcom on the economic viability of rural broadband in South Suffolk using Openreach’s Passive Infrastructure Access.

We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product. For this reason, while officials are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, the Department has not made any formal assessment of the impact of the current PIA rental charges on investment in rural areas, including in South Suffolk. We have also not made any formal assessment of the economic impact of introducing changes to PIA rental charges.

Innovation and Technology, whether she expects Ofcom to review Physical Infrastructure Access pricing in the Telecoms Access Review.

As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.My officials are regularly engaging with Ofcom, including on PIA, to ensure that we have the right regulatory environment in place to promote competition and investment in the fibre roll-out across the UK, including in rural areas.Ofcom is finalising its Telecoms Access Review that will set PIA rental charges from 1 April 2026. In the Review, they will set out whether they will introduce changes following their consultation on their proposed TAR decisions.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support fair competition in the broadband market between national ISPs and alternative network operators in rural areas.

Under the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom’s principal duty is to further the interests of citizens and consumers, where appropriate by promoting competition.In July, we published a consultation on a draft updated Statement of Strategic Priorities to Ofcom that sets out the government’s view on the importance of competition to promote investment in broadband deployment across the UK, including in rural areas. We are currently reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.Ofcom has powers to identify markets, determine whether a firm has significant market power (SMP) on those markets, and impose remedies as appropriate. Ofcom has not found any internet service provider to have SMP in the retail broadband market. However, in the wholesale fixed telecoms market, BT was found to have SMP and a range of pricing and non-pricing remedies were imposed on the company in order to promote network competition.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential economic impact of changes to Passive Infrastructure Access pricing models on private and public investment in rural broadband in South Suffolk.

We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product. For this reason, while officials are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, the Department has not made any formal assessment of the impact of the current PIA rental charges on investment in rural areas, including in South Suffolk. We have also not made any formal assessment of the economic impact of introducing changes to PIA rental charges.

Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support investment in rural gigabit broadband networks in South Suffolk.

Project Gigabit is the government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans.As part of Project Gigabit, CityFibre is delivering a contract across Suffolk. This contract currently includes approximately 5,800 premises in the South Suffolk constituency, predominantly in rural areas.We will aim to cover the remaining premises that are not currently included in Project Gigabit or suppliers’ commercial delivery plans as far as possible as funding becomes available, in line with the objective of achieving nationwide gigabit coverage by 2032.

Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of current Passive Infrastructure Access pricing models on private investment in rural broadband infrastructure in South Suffolk.

We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product. For this reason, while officials are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, the Department has not made any formal assessment of the impact of the current PIA rental charges on investment in rural areas, including in South Suffolk. We have also not made any formal assessment of the economic impact of introducing changes to PIA rental charges.

Innovation and Technology, what is the maximum value of an award given to a Defence SME as part of the National Security Strategic Investment Fund.

NSSIF invests in dual use companies across Quantum, Space, AI, and Emerging Technologies, on a range of cheque sizes, co-investing typically at Seed or Series A. NSSIF tends to take a minority stake and not lead the rounds. Details of many of the companies in NSSIF's investment portfolio are published on NSSIF's website (www.nssif.gov.uk).

Innovation and Technology, how many awards have been made to defence SMEs as part of the National Security Strategic Investment Fund since 5 July 2024.

NSSIF invests in dual use companies across Quantum, Space, AI, and Emerging Technologies, on a range of cheque sizes, co-investing typically at Seed or Series A. NSSIF tends to take a minority stake and not lead the rounds. Details of many of the companies in NSSIF's investment portfolio are published on NSSIF's website (www.nssif.gov.uk).

Innovation and Technology, how much funding has been allocated to startups developing dual-use technologies through the National Security Strategic Investment Fund since 5 July 2024.

In the financial year 2024-25, NSSIF committed £14,863,000 for investments. Details of the portfolio are published on the NSSIF website.

Innovation and Technology, what is the average value of an award given to a Defence SME as part of the National Security Strategic Investment Fund.

NSSIF invests in dual use companies across Quantum, Space, AI, and Emerging Technologies, on a range of cheque sizes, co-investing typically at Seed or Series A. NSSIF tends to take a minority stake and not lead the rounds. Details of many of the companies in NSSIF's investment portfolio are published on NSSIF's website (www.nssif.gov.uk).