Contributions
345 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDUK Biobank DataMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Markham and Lord Clement-Jones, for those responses and questions. The Government agree that this is unacceptable; it is an abuse…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataI thank the noble Lord for his questions, and I echo his points about the Front-Bench spokesmen on the other side. It is very clear that everyone has the same intent here, which…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataLet me thank the noble Lord, Lord Tarassenko, and his wife for participating in UK Biobank, because the whole thing depends on that. He is quite right that, before 2024, the data…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataI thank my noble friend for the question. UK Biobank has identified the sites that were responsible for the leak. There were three institutions: the Second Xiangya Hospital,…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataUK Biobank referred itself to the ICO, which was the entirely appropriate thing to do. The matter is now in the ICO’s hands.28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataThat last point is fundamental: we must have trust. If we do not get trust, we lose the ability to use what is an extraordinary resource, so that has to be part of what is looked…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataAgain, let me thank another participant at UK Biobank. One of the features I have found whenever I have met UK Biobank participants or visitors is how incredibly altruistic…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataThis is somewhat off topic. In terms of China, I think it is very clear that there are three possibilities for where Covid came from. One is that it was a natural infection that…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataI can absolutely assure the noble Lord that the Government will issue guidance. That guidance was in development anyway, and I expect it to come out within the next few weeks. I…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataUK Biobank, for all the reasons stated, is expensive to run, and it is run with a mix of funding from government, charities and industry, with the major funders being the UK…28 Apr 2026HANSARDUK Biobank DataYes, we are very aware of the possibility that there are things on GitHub. There has been a GitHub issue related to this, which was identified earlier this year, and that will be…28 Apr 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyMy Lords, the UK’s national quantum programme has seeded a world-leading emerging sector. The Government are increasing investment from £1 billion in the last decade to £1 billion…24 Feb 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyThe short answer is yes, and noble Lords will hear more about that shortly. All those things are critical. We have a good skills programme. There was a good report in July last…24 Feb 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyThe noble Lord asks an important question. Quantum computers will be best for quantum problems. Drug discovery is a quantum problem, so it is exactly the sort of area for which…24 Feb 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyMy noble friend asks an important question. There is no doubt that UK quantum companies look pretty attractive at the moment. We have a good idea of where those companies are,…24 Feb 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyThere are two important parts to that question. First, it is necessary to make sure that all existing data go through into post-quantum cryptography—in other words, into things…24 Feb 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyI absolutely acknowledge the concern of a particular branch of physics—particle physics and astronomy—which has historically been placed under the Science and Technology…24 Feb 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyI can assure the noble Lord that I look at that every day. I am looking at ways to make sure we unlock more private sector capital to get this acceleration. This is at a stage…24 Feb 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyThe noble Lord is right. About 11% of all companies in the world in quantum are in the UK. We are second in investment, but this is a race, others are spending huge amounts of…24 Feb 2026HANSARDQuantum TechnologyThe first thing to say is that I think AI and quantum will come together, so the two technologies will be extremely powerful. We commissioned some work from the Regulatory…24 Feb 2026