Former top scientific adviser Lord Vallance has reiterated the significance of recent strategic moves and asserted that upcoming funding exercise will enable support for upgrades and deployment of new tech
A prominent minister has asserted that government will use upcoming multi-year spending review to combat ageing IT while investing in new technologies to support the use of artificial intelligence.
Lord Patrick Vallance – who formerly held the civil service role government’s chief scientific adviser, and is now a Labour peer and minister for science, research and innovation – said that recent digital and tech strategies speak to the new administration’s commitment to emerging tech.
Vallance, answering a written parliamentary question from independent peer Lord John Taylor concerning public sector AI adoption and funding, added that the upcoming long-term funding round will enable government to make the required investment to support its ambitions,
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“As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan and the blueprint for modern digital government, both of which were published in January, the UK government has a vision for supporting the UK’s leading position in the global AI sector through the safe, effective, efficient and ethical adoption of AI in the UK’s public sector,” the minister said. “The UK government is in the process of a spending review which will be used to tackle the state of historic legacy IT, invest in cyber security, cloud-based computing, and the technologies that harness the benefits of AI for the public sector. The government has a clear focus on taking advantage of new technologies such as AI to improve public sector productivity and deliver a better user experience for citizens.”
Vallance, who became a familiar public figure as one of government’s leading advisers on its response to the coronavirus pandemic, claimed that “the cross-public sector AI community now has over 1,000 members”.
“The community meets every month to collaborate on AI use cases, best practice and trends,” he added. “On 10 February 2025 the GDS in collaboration with the AI community launched the AI Playbook on Gov.uk. The AI Playbook will help government departments and public sector organisations harness the power of a wider range of AI technologies safely, effectively, and responsibly.”
Vallance’s ministerial post sits within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – which now houses the expanded Government Digital Service and leads on tech and data transformation across Whitehall.
