Written questions by Dhesi.

Innovation and Technology, if she will take steps to increase the domestic production of silicon computer chips; and if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for national security of current levels of domestic computer chip production.

The Government recognises that computer chips are vital to our economy, critical sectors, and national security. However, the complexity and variety of semiconductors make it impossible for any one country to achieve supply chain autonomy.Through the Industrial Strategy, we are taking targeted action to support the UK semiconductor sector where we have internationally recognised strengths to promote growth, enhance national security, and strengthen supply chain resilience.Given the global nature of supply chains, the UK works closely with international partners, both bilaterally and through multilateral fora, to ensure the UK has access to the critical chips it requires.

Innovation and Technology, what the average staffing complement is for a ministerial private office within their Department; what grades those staff are appointed at; what the typical remuneration and contracted working hours are for those posts; and what the staff turnover rate is.

Ministerial private offices within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are resourced flexibly to meet business needs, and the size of individual offices varies.Staff are appointed across a range of grades EO-SCS1.Remuneration is in line with the Department’s published pay scales for each grade. Contracted working hours are typically 37 hours per week.Staff turnover rates specific to ministerial private offices are not calculated.The total number of staff currently working in ministerial private offices in the Department is 35.An allowance of up to 18% of base salary is available to staff in private offices who meet the relevant eligibility criteria.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to paragraph 88 of the policy paper entitled UK Government Resilience Action Plan, published on 14 July 2025, how many meetings have been attended by civil servants within their Department in relation to the Home Defence Programme; which directorate in the Department owns the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme; and what the job title is of the civil servant leading and cohering the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme.

The Resilience Action Plan sets out the Government’s strategic approach to how we will strengthen our domestic resilience and invest to protect the nation. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology officials regularly attend meetings to discuss the implementation of the Resilience Action Plan as well as matters of national security and defence.The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is actively contributing to this work.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.

Officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security, defence and resilience as well as the associated public communications required to deliver these lines of efforts. The conversation on National Defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The Ministry of Defence is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat. As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing Government, the private sector and public to play their part in strengthening the UK’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack. DSIT is actively supporting this work.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to paragraph 88 of the UK Government Resilience Action Plan, how many meetings Ministers in their Department have attended related to the Home Defence Programme.

DSIT Ministers have regular discussions with officials, external experts and ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including national security, defence and resilience.The Home Defence Programme was established in August 2024 to build the UK’s resilience to any potential escalation to conflict. It is an evolving and enduring programme of work which provides defence, security and resilience planning, focused on aligning military and civil effort in the event of a period of crisis and international hostilities affecting the UK, informed by and reflecting the recommendations from government strategies, including the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is actively supporting this work.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, how many (a) public engagements and (b) private meetings Ministers in their Department have undertaken related to the national conversation on defence and security.

DSIT Ministers have regular discussions with officials, external experts and ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including national security, defence and resilience, and associated public communications.As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year engagement designed to embed a whole-of-society approach, where Government, businesses, and the public all play a part in strengthening our resilience. This addresses the risks we face, including threats below and above the threshold of an armed attack.The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is actively supporting this work.

Innovation and Technology, who is the Chief Risk Officer for national security risks relating to the work of their Department.

The Government identifies and assesses risks to the nation through the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment, and the external National Risk Register, the most recent version of which was published in August As set out in the UK Government Resilience Framework, each risk in the National Security Risk Assessment is owned and managed within Lead Government Departments Where those risks, including national security risks, relate to the work of the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT), then they are managed through the department’s risk management processes. Within DSIT, risks are regularly reported to the department’s SLT, chaired by the Permanent Secretary, and then scrutinised by the Audit and Risk Committee (ARAC) on a regular basis.

Innovation and Technology, what recent steps have been taken to help protect UK businesses from cyber attack.

On 12 November 2025 the government introduced the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to Parliament. The Bill will bring into scope more of the core services relied on across the economy, such as managed service providers, data centres and critical parts of supply chains. UK businesses and public services will be more secure and resilient as a result. On 24 November 2025 ministers wrote an open letter to small businesses and business representative organisations with details of government support and guidance on cyber security. The letter has been published on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-letter-on-cyber-security-to-small-businesses. The National Cyber Security Centre’s Active Cyber Defence service continues to protect UK people, businesses and public sector organisations from cyber attacks, including blocking billions of phishing attempts and removing 232,000 scams across 415,000 malicious web addresses. I also refer the honourable member to the answer of 24 October 2025 to question 82366 which explained how the government has written to Chairs and CEOs of the largest UK companies asking them to take three key actions to protect themselves from cyber threats. The letter is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-letter-on-cyber-security-to-leading-uk-companies.

Innovation and Technology, whether he has held discussions with the Home Secretary (a) attracting and (b) retaining talented (i) researchers and (ii) innovators through the UK visa system.

As set out in the Immigration White Paper, the Government is committed to delivering a competitive immigration system that attracts and retains talented international researchers and innovators. This includes reforms to our top talent visa routes, such as the Global Talent and High Potential Individual visas.The recently launched Global Talent Taskforce is also working across Government and with my Department to support efforts to bring world-class talent to key Industrial Strategy sectors in the UK. My Department and DSIT Ministers work closely with the Home Office and across Government to ensure we continue to attract and retain top talent.

Innovation and Technology, whether she has (a) made contingency plans and (b) undertaken cross-government exercises to respond to potential (i) significant deterioration in and (ii) complete loss of (A) satellite capability and (B) the operational use of space.

The Department for Science Innovation and Technology recently launched its Crisis Response Team to enable transition of responsibilities from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero following the Machinery of Government change that led to the formation of these Departments. The Department and the UK Space Agency has established an Emergency Response Framework (ERF) that sets out cross-Government responsibilities in the event of the whole range of potential catastrophic incidents that could be encountered in space. This Framework connects to the Departmental Crisis Response capability through an escalation process, dependent on the scale, depth and duration of an event. The ERF has been exercised and updated regularly, following several real-time incidents experienced this year including Space Weather events. The plans and processes will continue to be tested and reviewed in response to evolving threats and hazards in the sector.

Innovation and Technology, how many officials were investigated under their Department's disciplinary processes in each of the last five years.

DSIT was formed following machinery of government changes in 2023 which saw staff join the department from BEIS, DCMS and Cabinet Office. Consequently, data is only available from 2024 onwards. HR Casework data indicates the following number of disciplinary investigations in 2024 and 2025 respectively: 2024 – 42025 – 9 The data provided only relates to occasions where HR Casework Services (HRCW) were engaged for support. Investigations conducted where the investigations manager did not require support from HRCW will not be reflected in this data, and there is no central repository of these investigations. This data reflects core DSIT employees and not those employed by partner organisations including UKSA or BDUK.

Innovation and Technology, what recent steps her Department has taken to help support businesses to (a) identify and (b) rectify cybersecurity issues.

The government has written to Chairs and CEOs of the largest UK companies and asked them to better identify and protect themselves from cyber threats by making cyber a board-level priority by using the Cyber Governance Code, signing up to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Early Warning service, and requiring Cyber Essentials in supply chains. These actions are relevant to all businesses, who can also help protect themselves by using the wide range of free advice, training and tools available on the NCSC website, including the check your cyber security tool and the Cyber Action Toolkit for small businesses.

Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the financial support available for sole traders applying for a patent.

The Government provides a range of support to inventors, including sole traders, so they may identify, protect and commercialise their intellectual property through tools found on GOV.UK.The Government considers the fees charged by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to apply for patents to be accessible and comparatively low compared to other jurisdictions.The IPO works in partnership with a range of organisations that can help inventors bring ideas to market. In addition, the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, provides a range of support services to help innovators.

Innovation and Technology, what recent steps he has taken to support (a) innovation and (b) invention among (i) SMEs and (ii) sole traders.

Growth is the key mission for this government and supporting firms of all sizes to innovate is key to unlocking it. Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, supports over 10,000 businesses annually on their innovation journey and over the final six months of the previous financial year, Innovate UK launched £276m of competitions. This is in addition to work underway to increase the availability of growth capital for innovative firms, which includes increasing the National Wealth Fund’s capitalisation to £27.8bn, reforms to the British Business Bank, and new pension reforms aimed at unlocking £80 billion of investment.

Innovation and Technology, what comparative assessment he has made of the regulatory approach by (a) the UK and (b) other advanced digital economies on enforcing a minimum age for the use of encrypted messaging services.

End-to-end encryption is a vital part of our digital world, and the government supports its responsible use. However, encryption should not allow tech companies to forego their responsibilities around keeping their users safe.The Online Safety Act includes some of the strongest protections globally to ensure children are protected in encrypted environments. Section 121 gives Ofcom the power to issue tech notices to regulated services to deal with CSEA content, even if this is communicated within an encrypted environment.The government continues to monitor international developments in this space.

Innovation and Technology, what progress he has made on setting up AI growth zones.

His Majesty’s Government has made steady progress in delivering the AI Opportunities Action Plan, published in January.This includes establishing AI Growth Zones (AIGZs) to accelerate large-scale AI infrastructure development across the UK. Culham, home to the UK Atomic Energy Authority, has been named as the first AIGZ.To identify further AIGZs, DSIT opened an early expression of interest period, in which DSIT received over 200 expressions of interest. DSIT has how opened the formal process for applicants to apply to host an AIGZ. This will remain open on a rolling basis.

Innovation and Technology, what recent progress his Department has made on improving digital inclusion in the Slough constituency.

The Government published its Digital Inclusion Action Plan in February 2025, which outlines the first five actions we are taking over the next year to boost digital inclusion in every corner of the UK, including Slough.These will be targeted at local initiatives for boosting digital skills and confidence, widening access to devices and connectivity, and getting support to people in their own communities so everyone can reap the benefits of technology.

Innovation and Technology, what his expected timeline is for full-fibre availability in the SL2 postcode in Slough constituency.

According to the independent website ThinkBroadband, over 99% of premises in Slough have access to superfast broadband speeds, and over 96% have access to a gigabit-capable (1000 Mbps) connection.We currently expect the remaining premises in Slough to be reached by suppliers' commercial rollout, but if there are any premises that cannot be covered commercially, they will be considered for inclusion in Project Gigabit or other interventions.

Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions has he had with animal protection groups on the phasing out of animal testing.

The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year. The Government will also be hosting a roundtable shortly with representatives from animal welfare organisations to discuss the strategy.

Innovation and Technology, what recent steps he has taken to phase 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. The Government invests £10m annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to accelerate the development and adoption of 3Rs approaches. A significant amount of research funding in the UK also goes to underpinning technologies that have the potential to deliver the 3Rs, driving forward innovation.The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year.