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Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Artificial Intelligence

Asked by Gordon McKeeLabourDepartment for Business, Innovation, Science and TradeTabled Answered 13 August 2026UIN 18842

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what steps the Department is taking to ensure that small businesses in each area can access practical support to adopt artificial intelligence safely and productively.

Answered by Chris McDonald

The government is committed to helping small businesses across the UK adopt AI safely and productively.

The industry-led SME Digital Adoption Taskforce set an ambition for the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses to be the most digitally capable and AI confident in the G7 by 2035. We are working to deliver their recommendations, including pilots with small businesses in the West of England and West Yorkshire, collaboration with industry on support, and new offers through the Business Growth Service. An update was published in June 2026.

The AI Skills Boost programme is also helping workers with AI skills, including cyber security.

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