Charlie Dewhirst MP: written questions
4 Jul 2025–3 Jul 2026
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Our reporting years run from 4 July to 3 July, starting with the 2024 general election. They are not official parliamentary sessions. Office costs keep IPSA’s April–March financial years. Records may cover only part of a year; a missing record does not mean no work was done.
Read what this MP said, asked and contributed in Parliament.
22 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Artificial Intelligence: InvestmentDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 2 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15565More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of energy regulation policies on the decision of OpenAI to terminate the Stargate UK investment programme.
Answer: The UK continues to be an attractive destination for AI investment as reflected in OpenAI’s ongoing and expanding presence here through its recent announcement for a large permanent office in London, doubling the current OpenAI headcount here. The UK Gove...
Answered 15 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordSocial Media: ChildrenDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 1 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15231More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the press release, "Social media to be banned for under-16s in landmark government move to give kids their childhood back", of 15 June 2026, at what time of the evenin
Answer: Keeping children safe online is a priority for this government. On 15 June, the government published a progress statement following the ‘Growing up in the Online World’ consultation.This announced that government were banning social media companies offeri...
Answered 6 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordResearch: Disclosure of InformationDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 1 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15230More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Government Office for Science provides guidance to Departments on the requirements to publish Area of Research Interest.
Answer: The Government Office for Science (GO-Science) provides guidance to departments on the publication of Areas of Research Interest (ARIs). GO-Science published updated guidance on GOV.UK in November 2024, which advises ministerial departments, non-ministeri...
Answered 10 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordSpace Weather: National SecurityDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 1 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15229More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the recommendations in the National Audit Office report entitled The UK’s resilience to severe space weather, HC1737, March 2026.
Answer: The Government welcomes the National Audit Office’s report, The UK’s resilience to severe space weather, and recognises the value of its recommendations in strengthening the United Kingdom’s resilience to this national risk. The report identified progress...
Answered 10 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordCivil Service: Artificial IntelligenceDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 30 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 14626More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 30 July 2024 to Question 920, on Civil Service: Artificial Intelligence, what trials have taken place on AI and public service productivity.
Answer: The Government has delivered a range of trials on AI and public service productivity. The Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI) tested Consult, a tool to analyse consultation responses, on seven live consultations during 2025, saving around 8,000 h...
Answered 8 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology: EqualityDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 30 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 14625More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the answer of 12 December 2024, to Question 17808, on DSIT: Equality, if he will place a copy of the updated guidance in the Library of the House.
Answer: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published guidance for staff related to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in June 2024. We are updating this guidance to reflect our recently published Equality Objectives and to provide additiona...
Answered 8 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordLord MandelsonDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 30 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 14624More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what correspondence his Department had with Global Counsel in the period that Lord Mandelson was Ambassador to the United States.
Answer: There was no formal correspondence, between DSIT Ministers and Global Counsel during the period specified.
Answered 8 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology: SecondmentDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 30 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 14623More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will list the names of the organisations that have (a) had departmental Civil Servants seconded to them since July 2024, and (b) seconded organisational staff to the department.
Answer: DSIT has hosted secondees from and sent secondees to a wide variety of organisations since 2024. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on individual secondment circumstances to ensure GDPR compliance.
Answered 16 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordYouTube: SafetyDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 10 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 8761More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer to Question 745 on YouTube: Safety, whether her Department sought advice from (a) the expert panel for Growing up in an Online World and (b) other experts before
Answer: In February, to assist in designing the Growing up in an Online World pilots, the Department sought advice from the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. To provide advice, Dame Angela Mclean convened a roundtable of experts from both inside and outside ...
Answered 15 Jun 2026
Original Parliament recordMembers: CorrespondenceDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 3 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 6589More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to reply to the correspondence of 6 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Bridlington and The Wolds on illegal content on social media platforms.
Answer: The Department apologises for the significant delay in responding to the Member’s correspondence on this occasion. I provided a full response on 5 June 2026.
Answered 8 Jun 2026
Original Parliament recordDisinformation: RussiaDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 1 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 5790More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will investigate whether the Russian Government and its actors have been promoting disinformation on the Prime Minister’s personal life.
Answer: The government takes all allegations of attempts by foreign states to spread disinformation targeting the UK and its citizens extremely seriously. Through our whole-of-government approach, DSIT is the department responsible for the UK’s policy on disinfor...
Answered 4 Jun 2026
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology: Remote WorkingDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 9 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 119064More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2026, to Question 107044, on Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Remote Working, for what reason the department does not follow the s
Answer: DSIT’s office attendance (Hybrid Working) policy allows some flexibility for minimum office attendance to reflect the capacity of the office estate. As such DSIT requires employees to spend between a minimum of 40% and 60% of their weekly working hours in...
Answered 17 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordData, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender Independent ReviewDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 5 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 118353More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many of the recommendations of the report entitled Independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender, published on 19 March 2025 she has implemented.
Answer: The government published the independent review of data, statistics and research on 19 March 2025.The report was made available to departments and is being considered by relevant policy teams alongside ongoing policy work in this area.The Government recog...
Answered 13 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordInformation Commissioner's Office: StandardsDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 5 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 118351More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the average period of time is for the Information Commissioner to decide whether to assign an Freedom of Information Internal Review request for investigation; and what is the aver
Answer: The ICO is dealing with an increase of over 30 percent in FOI cases submitted to them since April 2025. The ICO will continue to look at ways they can prioritise FOI casework and resources to ensure that case numbers can be adequately managed. Data on FOI...
Answered 13 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordOfcom: Public AppointmentsDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 5 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 118350More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 11 February 2026, to Question 110421, on Ofcom: Public Appointments, for what reason the application deadline was extended, and whether this was approved by Mi
Answer: The window for applications was extended to ensure that the competition attracted a strong and diverse field of candidates and to maximise the number of high‑quality applications for the role. This decision was taken in consultation with Ministers.
Answered 16 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology: Public AppointmentsDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 5 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 118349More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2026, to Question 107041, on DSIT: Public Appointments, and to the answer of 28 January 2026, to Question 106743, on DBT: Public Appointments, how m
Answer: All Public Appointees complete a political activity form as part of the application process. If appointees declare any political activity, the detail is reviewed, assessed for risk and appropriate mitigations implemented where necessary.
Answered 13 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology: Public AppointmentsDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98126More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the (a) name, (b) job title, (c) annual remuneration, (d) time commitment and (e) expected end date is for each direct ministerial appointment in her Department.
Answer: Please see a list of all the Direct Ministerial Appointments (DMAs) in DSIT to date, including job title, renumeration, time commitment and expected end date.Live Appointments:Matt Clifford: the Prime Minister’s AI Opportunities Advisor. 1 day per week, T...
Answered 18 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordHereditary Diseases: ResearchDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 10 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 89237More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much money has been allocated through the the UK Research and Innovation fund to research into mitochondrial diseases in each of the last five years.
Answer: The Medical Research Council (MRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), committed £55,650,000 since 2020 to research into mitochondrial disease.2020£9,283,0002021£11,063,0002022£13,416,0002023£9,738,0002024£12,150,000Additionally, MRC awar...
Answered 21 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordFood: NutritionDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 73347More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New mapping tool launched to help bring healthy food to those who need it most, published on 8 July 2025, who will run the stat
Answer: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has funded six projects under its “Health inequalities in the food system” programme, announced on 8 July 2025. These projects aim to understand the causes of dietary health inequalities and explore interventions for equi...
Answered 12 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordData, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender Independent ReviewDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 73346More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2025 to Question 54390 on Data Statistics Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, if he will make a statement to Parliament with a formal governm
Answer: As outlined in previous Answers of 3 June to Question 54390 and 2 May 2025 to Question 47834, relevant departments and policy teams will consider the findings in light of their ongoing policy work.
Answered 18 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordDigiGov: FinanceDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 73345More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what funding (a) the Government Digital Service and (b) his Department has provided to DigiGov Expo 2025.
Answer: No funding has been provided to DigiGov Expo 2025 by either the Government Digital Service or the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Answered 18 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordInternet: SecurityDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 73334More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what guidance the National Protective Security Authority has provided on using Virtual Private Networks.
Answer: As part of our ongoing monitoring of the potential impact of circumvention techniques on the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act, Government is engaging with relevant bodies. However, the National Protective Security Authority has not provided the depa...
Answered 17 Sept 2025
Original Parliament record
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4 Jul 2025–3 Jul 2026. One record per UIN and tabled date; the named department is not a measure of answer quality.
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