Asked by Lord Holmes of Richmond To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what cross-government work they are undertaking to
maximise opportunities from the fourth industrial revolution,
particularly in terms of digital skills, Artificial
Intelligence, machine learning and distributed ledger technology.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what cross-government work
they are undertaking to maximise opportunities from the
fourth industrial revolution, particularly in terms of
digital skills, Artificial Intelligence, machine
learning and distributed ledger technology.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Henley)
(Con)
My Lords, we recognise the huge benefits of the fourth
industrial revolution and are working across government to
exploit them. The digital strategy outlines ways to make
Britain the best place to start and grow a digital
business, trial new technology or undertake advanced
research. We are working closely with industry, considering
the recommendations of two major government and industry
reviews on digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence.
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(Lab)
My Lords—
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(Con)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that response. There
are some excellent initiatives in various departments, not
least the use of blockchain in the Department for Work and
Pensions to greatly empower benefits recipients. Does my
noble friend agree that all the advantages of the fourth
industrial revolution will be realised only through a
connected, collaborative approach across the whole of
Whitehall? Otherwise, the opportunities before us will not
be fully utilised and realised and we will fail, fast.
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My noble friend is right to say that there are great
opportunities ahead of us. He is right to stress the need
to work across government. There will be no silos in
government, as far as we can make clear. BEIS and all other
departments will work together on this. I merely mention
BEIS because that is where I happen to be at the moment—I
am sorry; I could have expressed that better. The other
point to make to my noble friend is that we want to work
with industry and all those outside to make sure we receive
the benefits of the change we are seeing with the fourth
industrial revolution.
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My Lords, I apologise to the House for my enthusiasm. I
also apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Holmes—a great ally
on many issues—for getting up far too early.
Although the fourth industrial revolution is a recognisable
force that promises great GDP growth and the transformation
of the world of work and production, the greatest risk to
economic efficiency is that income and wealth will be ever
more skewed. A weight of reports, including an excellent
one by UBS Investment Bank, warn that inequality will be
greater and the benefits will accrue to fewer and fewer
people. As part of their work on the fourth industrial
revolution, will the Government establish not only new
measures to track this issue, but appropriate targets to
ensure that its economic benefits fall to all in society?
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My Lords, I welcome the noble Lord’s enthusiasm for these
matters. I think the House is grateful for his very prompt
intervention.
The noble Lord recognises, as I do, that changes are coming
and that we must accept them and work for them. He will
have seen the Made Smarter Review that we commissioned,
published only a week ago by the chairman of Siemens, and I
think he would accept that we will see many more jobs; I
think the review estimated this could create something in
the order of 135,000 new jobs. In terms of what he was
saying about greater inequality, which I do not accept,
there are estimates that the fourth industrial revolution
will not only create new jobs, but create them faster and
create better-paid jobs. That is something we need to look
at. I will certainly look at the other reviews he
mentioned, but there are challenges that we must accept.
These changes are happening and we must work to ensure that
they happen to our best advantage.
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(LD)
My Lords, I am delighted that the Minister has mentioned
the Made Smarter Review, which highlights that the UK is
slow in adopting digital technology compared with our
industrial competitors. One of the things it proposes is to
run an adoption pilot scheme and to use the north-west of
England as the location for it. Does he agree that we need
to hurry up the adoption of a digital strategy and that a
pilot in the north-west of England would be a good way of
moving that forward?
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My Lords, I shall not make any firm commitments about that
review, which was published only at the beginning of the
month. Noble Lords will know that we have already had a
Question dealing with it. I confessed that I had not yet
read the full 246 pages of the review, but I am making
progress under the advice of the Leader of the Opposition,
who recommended that I read it with a mug of cocoa. I will
look at all recommendations. I will not make promises about
the north-west of England but the noble Lord will know I
have a particular interest there. I would welcome going
back up there as often as possible.
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of Soho (CB)
My Lords, arguably the biggest challenge facing Governments
globally at the moment is the disconnection between policy,
legislation and the pace of technological change. Will the
Minister give the House a sense of how the Government are
approaching closing that gap and, to use a trendy tech
word, disrupting their own policy-making processes to keep
abreast of developments?
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My Lords, it would be wrong for me to make any promises
regarding legislation as I have the beady eye of the Chief
Whip on me. This House and another place will be fairly busy
with what we will be doing over the coming year, but I
certainly take on board all the noble Baroness’s other
suggestions. We welcome what she has to say.
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(Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend accept that inequalities have
very much been caused by central banks printing money, which
the European Central Bank continues to do? This finds its way
into assets, so those who own assets get richer while those
who do not stay where they are. Does he not agree that if the
’s principle is that it
should print more money, that situation will get worse, not
better?
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My noble friend makes a very good point.
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(Lab)
My Lords, as we are referring to the fourth industrial
revolution, is this not a timely occasion to remember the
first Industrial Revolution and its birthplace, Telford in
Shropshire, particularly in view of the fact that the Iron
Bridge is currently being refurbished? Any support for that
would, of course, be much welcomed. It is also home of the
world-famous Ironbridge Gorge Museums. I might also mention
the Telford Steam Railway, of which I am president.
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I am very grateful that I do not have to deal with the second
and third industrial revolutions, but I thought that someone
in this House would want to mention the first. I did not
think anyone would be able to remember the first, but the
noble Lord pays a valid tribute to his former constituency.
We recognise that and hope that the Iron Bridge in Telford
gets well soon.
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(LD)
My Lords, I draw the attention of the House to the Lords
Communications Committee’s report Growing Up with the
Internet. Of course we have to maximise the opportunities of
the digital revolution, but how are the Government planning
to protect society—especially our children—from the ethical
and moral implications, and long-term consequences,
of Artificial Intelligence and machine
learning?
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My Lords, I was not on the Communications Committee when it
considered and produced its Growing Up with the Internet
report—I think that the noble Baroness was. Since I left the
committee, I believe that the Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport has responded to that report and I
refer the noble Baroness to the letter of response.
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