Select committee: Defence Committee
Conclusion 24
2nd Report - Developing AI capacity and expertise in UK defence
Published 10 Jan 2025
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In recognition of the fact that many of the AI companies who might provide services to defence are smaller than traditional defence suppliers, MOD should design its competitions and contracting processes in such a way as to minimise administrative barriers to entry, to make competition for defence contracts as accessible as possible to outsiders and challengers. We heard that CommercialX has enjoyed significant success in simplifying commercial processes for smaller businesses, and these lessons should be drawn on when tendering for Defence AI. (Recommendation, Paragraph 71) Data and infrastructure
From: Defence Committee, 2nd Report - Developing AI capacity and expertise in UK defence (HC 590), 10 January 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 4 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 agrees with most recommendations, in several cases in general terms or subject to the outcome of the Strategic Defence Review.
- On the Strategic Defence Review, it "agrees in general terms" that specific actions should normalise AI use, though the response "cannot pre-empt the findings of the SDR".
- On the Defence AI Strategy, it believes it is "more pertinent to focus on shaping our future approach" and anticipates the need to refresh its strategic approach, while agreeing that specific, measurable actions will be essential.
- On a new fund to scale innovations, it says ongoing discussions with HM Treasury "prevent a direct response", and will raise the recommendation with the Treasury "where it is appropriate to do so".
- On the Digital Strategy for Defence, it "partially agrees" and plans a refreshed digital strategy with an implementation plan and metrics; it says the Digital Backbone has no completion date.