Written questions by Logan.

Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to take measures alongside the Scotland Office and his counterparts in the Scottish Government to ensure the R100 programme is carried out in full and on time.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of whether those living in in leasehold flats and apartments in Scotland will be able to benefit from the improved access to ultrafast broadband proposed in her Department’s recent consultation.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what legislative options her Department is considering to improve broadband builders’ access to upgrade rental flats and apartments.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on whether the R100 programme is on track; and when full connectivity is expected to be achieved in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has, in collaboration with its counterpart in the Scottish Government, made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to allow broadband providers to access communal areas in multi-dwelling units to upgrade flats and apartments across Scotland.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential economic impact of rolling out ultrafast full fibre broadband across Scotland.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure Scottish families and businesses, including those in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, are included in reforms to improve ultrafast broadband access proposed in the UK Government’s latest consultation.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, when she plans to respond to the correspondence in relation to Digital ID of 6 February, 12 March and 13 April with reference numbers SL03345/dw and MC2025-00011528.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, whether additional funding and staffing has been allocated to regulators and public bodies to implement the strategy to replace animals in science.

The Government has announced £75m of funding to accelerate alternatives and innovation, with new capabilities being developed across the UK. This funding will help bring forward advanced testing methods that can save lives and support a faster, science‑led route to regulation. Discussions are underway with regulators and public bodies to determine how this funding will be allocated to support effective implementation of the Replacing Animals in Science strategy

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2025 to Question 92670, whether a scientifically satisfactory method or testing strategy requires validation.

Where a novel method is devised, it is expected to undergo evaluation in studies that describe its performance in its capacity to predict outcomes of testing of chemicals of a known profile. Such studies will be a forerunner to formal validation of the method which will likely involve comparative testing in many different laboratories, to ensure the method’s performance is robust.In terms of what constitutes acceptable validation, the OECD also published a guidance document on validation of methods (see https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/guidance-document-on-the-validation-and-international-acceptance-of-new-or-updated-test-methods-for-hazard-assessment_e1f1244b-en.html).In the strategy, we committed to establishing a UK Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (UKCVAM).

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the strategy Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, published on 11 November 2025, if the preclinical translational models hub will be a physical institute; and what is the timetable to establish the translational models hub.

The Government’s strategy commits to create a preclinical translational models hub, supported by £30m of government funding, by the end of 2026. This will bring together data, AI, cell engineering, genomic technology and cutting-edge disease modelling capabilities to generate collaborative research at scale. This will create a pipeline of novel translational medicine models, with opportunities for partnerships across academia and industry. The hub is being developed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in consultation with stakeholders and more details will be announced at a later date.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the strategy Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, published on 11 November 2025, when the alternative method priorities list will be published; and if she will consult with animal welfare organisations in developing the alternative method priorities list.

The Government’s strategy to support replacing animals in science commits to publish biennially from 2026 a list of alternative-methods research and development priorities, coalescing UK scientists around these areas and incentivising partnerships between research organisations, CROs and industry. These priority areas will be developed collaboratively between academic institutions, industry trade associations, learned societies, the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research’s (NC3Rs) Regulatory Sciences Forum, the New Approaches to Chemical Risk Assessment in the Regulatory Space (NACRARs) Cross Government group and international partners.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the strategy Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, published on 11 November 2025, if the £75 million funding announced to bring forward new testing methods is (i) additional funding or (ii) funded through reallocation from existing budgets.

The Government has committed to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods with £60 million of new funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology that has not been derived from reallocation of existing budgets. This includes £30 million to set up a translational hub and £30 million for the UK centre for the validation of alternative methods.£11.4m has also been committed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Innovate UK’s core budgets as part of routine prioritisation activities, and £4.5m from the Wellcome Trust which is non-Government funding, to advance human in vitro model development.

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 906344 on Animal Experiments, whether she plans to enshrine the strategy targets into law.

The Government’s new strategy sets out our long-term vision for a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances, achieved by creating a research and innovation system that drives the development and validation of alternative methods to using animals in science. The legal framework in the UK already requires that animals are only ever used in science where there are no validated alternatives available, and we are speeding up the development of alternative methods.

Innovation and Technology, what recent progress he has made in phasing out animal testing.

The Labour Manifesto commits to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal.On 11th November 2025 the government published “Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods” which outlines the steps we will take to achieve this. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/replacing-animals-in-science-strategy/replacing-animals-in-science-a-strategy-to-support-the-development-validation-and-uptake-of-alternative-methods

Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to protect consumers from a reduction in service received from private services as part of the Digital ID scheme.

The government will ensure there is no reduction in services from the digital ID scheme. Indeed, it should deliver exactly the opposite - with easier access to public and private services for more people. We remain committed to commencing and delivering the measures in Part 2 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, which underpin a framework of standards.We will continue to engage with a range of organisations, including private sector digital verification services, over the coming weeks and months, including as part of the consultation to be launched by the end of this year, to ensure this commitment is delivered.

Innovation and Technology, whether her Department's financial planning anticipates that the costs of running a digital ID scheme would grow as public services become more interlinked.

The Government will launch a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year. The eventual total cost and savings will depend on the design, build and delivery of the system, matters which will be included in the consultation.