Science, Innovation and Technology Committee — hearing of 8 July 2026: transcript & video

00:01 - 01:02

Speaker 3

Order. And welcome to today's meeting of the Science Innovation and Technology Select Committee. And we're very pleased that today we will be hearing for the second time both from the Secretary of State for Science Innovation and Technology, Liz Kendall, and from the Permanent Secretary to that department, Emran Mian. I want to really start by thanking our witnesses and everyone here in this incredibly hot room in London. So we'll try to keep the meeting to time and if it's necessary we may take short breaks.

Now, Secretary of State, it's a little less than a year since you were appointed Secretary of State. And I just want to start by asking you what you see as your most significant achievements in that time.

01:02 - 02:59

Speaker 1

I think that there's three things I'm most proud of. Firstly is the action we have taken to back more British AI companies and to give us greater leverage and sovereign control. And that includes our sovereign AI fund with backed by 500 million pounds and our 1.1 billion AI hardware plan. Because if you believe as I do that AI is the most powerful technology of our lifetime now the engine of not just economic power but of hard power. And if you believe that Britain is world leading in this but that we need to do more to shape this powerful technology to work for all and not just a powerful unaccountable few, then I believe those measures as a start are critical to the future of the country.

Number one. Number two, I think the ban on social media companies providing services to under 16s will be a significant change in this country to give children their childhood back, to give parents more control. And it will reset cultural norms for future generations. And thirdly, as a woman Secretary of State, I have put women in science and tech at the forefront of everything I've done. Not only setting up our women in tech task force to make get more women in tech and more tech that works for women, but also last week publishing our women in research charter which sets a minimum standard that women in research should get the maternity leave and pay and adoption leave and baby loss leave and return to work policies that they deserve.

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