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Department for Business and Trade: Artificial Intelligence

Asked by Andy McDonaldLabourDepartment for Business and TradeTabled Answered 10 July 2026UIN 15335

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how his Department defines and ensures meaningful human involvement in decisions supported and made by automated systems in the context of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

Answered by Kate Dearden

If the Department adopts automated decision-making (ADM), relevant legal requirements and associated guidance would be followed. The Government does not prescribe a single definition of meaningful human involvement, as this is context specific. Current ICO guidance states that human involvement must be active and not merely a token gesture to be meaningful. It is for each data controller to determine and demonstrate whether processing includes meaningful human involvement and to ensure compliance with applicable data protection legislation. The Department does not currently have tools, products or processes that rely on automated decision-making.

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