Select committee: Communications and Digital Committee
Recommendation 16
2nd Report - AI and creative technology scaleups: less talk, more action
Published 3 Feb 2025
Paragraph 108
Communications and Digital Committee Scaling up - AI and creative tech All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government’s long-term compute strategy should set out as soon as possible, and certainly by the proposed “spring 2025” deadline, how it will deliver the broad range of computing resources required by AI scaleups, including high-end computing facilities. AI scaleups should be granted access to these facilities to catalyse commercial opportunities for UK companies. Startups and universities should also be provided access to ensure a healthy pipeline of innovation.
From: Communications and Digital Committee, 2nd Report - AI and creative technology scaleups: less talk, more action, paragraph 108, 3 February 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 3 April 2025 (deadline 3 April 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and states it is committed to supporting the digital economy and removing barriers for scaling tech companies, agreeing with several recommendations and setting out measures through the Industrial Strategy and AI Opportunities Action Plan.
- On consolidating support schemes, the government "agrees with these recommendations" and cites a new Business Growth Service, due to launch "later this year". It also says it is seeking to reduce the overall number of UKRI programmes, and that it is "important to maintain distinct institutions and programmes".
- On AI, it "has committed to delivering" the AI Opportunities Action Plan, including a 20-fold expansion of public compute capacity by 2030. DSIT will "update on this longer-term plan in the spring".
- On AI and copyright, it agrees that rights holders should have control over their work. It states that "no decisions will be taken until we are absolutely confident we have a practical plan" that delivers for both creative industries and AI developers.
- On R&D tax relief, it does not commit to changing the definition. It says it "will continue to consider longer term simplifications and incremental improvements", but that any reforms "need to be considered in the context of the challenging fiscal position".