Response to the Global Government Forum report: 'UK Civil Service Digital Skills', published on 29 November 2022 – Lord Clement-Jones.
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, I thank the Minister for his detailed introduction and his considerable engagement on the Bill to date. This has been a comprehensive, heartfelt and moving debate, with a great deal of cross-party agreement about how we must regulate social media going forward. With 66 speakers, however, I sadly will not be able to mention many significant contributors by name. It has been a long...
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, lack of access to digital devices is a major cause of data poverty. What resources are the Government providing, and what steps are they taking, to make sure that public bodies such as GP practices and schools ensure that families in data poverty can access digital-only services? Do the Government even have a comprehensive digital exclusion policy?
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, this Question clearly concerns a very powerful new generative, probabilistic type of artificial intelligence, which we ought to encourage in terms of creativity but not of cheating or deception. Does the Question not demonstrate the limitations of the Government’s online digital and media education strategy? Why is there nothing in the Online Safety Bill on this?
Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government when the past minutes of the (shadow) Senior Data Governance Panel will be published.
Lord Clement-Jones: The Minister spoke about universities. Did he mean the academics—any academic within the universities?
Lord Clement-Jones: I heard what the Minister said about lobbying and the additional aspect of lobbying by law firms, but why is any exemption needed beyond what is contained in Clause 74, which covers legal professional privilege effectively—legal proceedings and so on—so that no confidential information needs to be divulged? Why is it not necessary that a law firm is acting for a foreign power or an entity...
Lord Clement-Jones: All the Minister is saying, in a highly circular way, is that it is in here because it has always been in here in some other forms of legislation. I do not think that is much of an answer.
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendment 103, and I declare my interests as set out in the register. Like the noble Baronesses, Lady Noakes and Lady Lister, I am new to the Bill and have been provoked by briefings. Like others who have spoken today, I emphasise that I am absolutely no fan of this foreign influence registration scheme, which is far too broad in its application, as we have heard....
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, I apologise for interrupting the Minister but one of the key points is about the methodology adopted for the NSRA, and one of the key issues that appears to be emerging is that the Government do not seem to be committing to go beyond a five-year horizon. What assurance can the Minister give about the methodology that is going to be used, and whether we are going to be looking...
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, I express my own thanks to our chair, the noble Lord, Lord Arbuthnot, not only for his excellent introduction today but for his superb chairing of the committee, especially given that meetings had to be conducted remotely almost throughout. I support his thanks to our terrific staff and advisers, and to my fellow committee members for their stimulating company and insights. I joined...
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, like the noble Viscount, Lord Colville, I am very concerned about the future for independent production companies in light of the Government’s plans, but, like others, I welcome the fact that there are no proposals to sell Channel 4. Can the Minister say how much taxpayers’ money has been wasted on those fruitless plans?
Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government how many PhDs in mathematics (1) were funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) from 2019–22, and (2) will be funded by UKRI in 2022–25.
Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government how many mathematics fellowships UK Research and Innovation (1) funded in the UK from 2019–22, and (2) will fund from 2022–25.
Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government how much as a percentage of the overall UK Research and Innovation settlement is the current allocation to the mathematical sciences.
Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government how much of UK Research and Innovation's funding was allocated to mathematics in (1) 2019–22, and (2) 2022–25.
Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 8 December (HL3749), how, if at all, they regulate the enforcement of penalties for the breach of public space protection orders by contractors appointed by local authorities.
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord McNally on obtaining this debate—I am just sorry that he is not here to participate—and my noble friend Lord Storey on his brilliant introduction to it. Debates on culture and levelling up are obviously like buses: you wait for ages and then two come along in quick succession. Perhaps I could tempt the Minister to treat this like the Report...
Lord Clement-Jones: That is because I have not received it, but I look forward to reading my text. The noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, paid tribute to Darren Henley, as do I, but he did not say that he now pays tribute; he paid tribute to Darren Henley in the past. This has been a bungled funding round with what I fear will be very adverse consequences for the UK’s creative community. I liked the phrase from the...
Lord Clement-Jones: We may have to correct the record because I looked at the transcript and it did not say “instructed”. I am willing to look again at that, and I am sure the Minister will have a quick google and see whether or not that is the case. Sir Peter Bazalgette, the former chair, makes the same point in his November letter to the FT: “Ace had been gradually moving resources outside London for...