Written questions by Hendrick.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the proportion of companies paying ransoms to hackers following cyber-attacks; and what steps her Department is taking to improve cybersecurity across industry sectors.

The government considers ransomware a serious threat to the UK’s national security and economic prosperity. The Home Office recently consulted on a package of proposals to reduce the threat ransomware poses to the UK economy and will continue to develop these measures in collaboration with industry. Due to under-reporting there is no single authoritative estimate of ransomware payment rates. Recent industry reports suggest that payment rates are declining. The government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey finds around half of businesses (52%) have a rule or policy to not pay ransomware demands.Improving cyber security across industry sectors is critical to national security and the resilience of our wider economy. The government has developed a wide range of free tools, guidance, training and standards to help organisations of all sizes implement cyber security measures. The government's highly effective Cyber Essentials scheme helps organisations implement critical cyber security controls and protect against the most common cyber attacks. The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will boost UK cyber defences and protect our essential and digital services. In October government ministers and senior security officials wrote an open letter to the UK’s leading companies urging them to take three specific actions to improve their cyber resilience: use the government’s Cyber Governance Code of Practice, register for the National Cyber Security Centre’s Early Warning System, and adopt Cyber Essentials in their supply chains. In 2026 the Government will publish a new National Cyber Action Plan that will set out how we will respond to the growing cyber threat and work with industry to raise cyber resilience levels across the economy.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the impact of rising energy prices on the AI sector in the United Kingdom.

We are focused on continuing to create the right conditions for investment in the UK’s AI and data centre infrastructure.Through the AI Energy Council, we are already bringing together energy system bodies and leading technology companies, including NESO, EDF, Microsoft and Google, to address the energy implications of AI growth and ensure the system is ready to support future demand.Alongside this, the Government is bringing forward a consultation on discounting data centres' energy costs for eligible projects in areas with excess electricity supply, including Scotland, Cumbria and the North East.

Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that inward investment agreements for new datacentres include binding requirements on energy efficiency, renewable power sourcing and heat‑recovery obligations; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential environmental risks arising from the absence of a single cross‑government standard for datacentre sustainability.

The government is committed to ensuring that new data centres and AI infrastructure are developed responsibly, with due consideration of environmental impacts.UK data and AI infrastructure is subject to the UK’s environmental and planning frameworks, which require assessment of impacts such as energy use. Larger data centres, which will be able to apply through the recently introduced Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project route, will also be subject to these requirements.DSIT works closely with DESNZ, DEFRA, and MHCLG to ensure that the UK’s data centre growth align with wider policy objectives, including on sustainability and Clean Power 2030 ambitions. The AI Energy Council, co-chaired by Secretaries of State for DSIT and DESNZ, brings together regulators, energy companies and tech firms to address the growing energy demands of AI in a sustainable and scalable way.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions her Department has had with AI companies on ensuring that AI chatbots do not promote or encourage self-harming behaviour.

I meet regularly with civil society, industry and Ofcom to discuss online safety, including the risks of AI chatbots.AI services allowing users to share content with one another or that search the live web are covered under the Online Safety Act and have a duty to protect users from illegal content, and children from harmful content.To build on this, I have made encouraging self-harm a priority offence under the Act and in-scope chatbots will need to have measures in place to prevent users from encountering this content.

Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to introduce a mandatory ID submission for people creating online accounts on anonymous websites.

The Government has no plans to mandate the new digital ID for creating online accounts on anonymous websites. We will be consulting on other ways people might want to use this ID by the end of the year, such as when verifying their age for accessing certain websites - but there are no plans to make that mandatory.