PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(7 September 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment they have made of whether the UK's Sovereign Tech and Sovereign AI funding programmes are adequately supporting the UK's digital sovereignty; and what criteria are used to assess applications to those programmes.

Asked by:
Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat)

The Sovereign AI Fund, backed by £500 million, seeks to grow and anchor strategically important UK AI companies, helping them scale in the UK while supporting economic resilience, high-quality jobs and growth. Alongside direct equity investment, Sovereign AI can help companies access public compute, R&D funding, talent support, procurement opportunities and wider government support.

The Fund focuses on areas where the UK has existing underlying strengths and government action can materially improve scaling outcomes; These areas include compute and infrastructure, foundation models, AI for life sciences, AI for scientific discovery, and AI assurance. Applications are assessed against published written criteria and the Fund’s broader strategic objectives.

Answered by:
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