Written evidence submitted by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
DCMS COMMITTEE INQUIRY – THE GROWTH OF ‘IMMERSIVE AND ADDICTIVE TECHNOLOGIES’
Growing potential of immersive technologies
1. Immersive technologies have advanced dramatically over the last two decades, with the advances driven by factors such as lowering headset costs and new AR (Augmented Reality) & VR (Virtual Reality) production techniques which provide higher quality immersive experiences.
2. These developments are opening up a wide range of exciting and innovative new applications. In manufacturing, Rolls Royce is using immersive technology to improve the production of its aerospace and marine products, whilst in healthcare it is being used by organisations including NHS England and Newcastle University to help with the treatment of diabetes, autism, and overcoming phobias.
3. Digi-Capital predict that the global immersive technology market will be worth between $95bn and $105bn by 2023,[1] and a study of the UK immersive economy[2] in May 2018 by Immerse UK found that there are now around 1,000 immersive specialist companies in the UK employing around 4,500 people and generating £660 million in sales, potentially representing as much as 9% of the global market share.
Video games
4. The games sector has great potential in terms of use of immersive technologies and more generally developing rich and compelling content for increasing global audiences. In many respects the sector is trailblazing. It is important for example in terms of helping build future skills and developing techniques and technologies - such as simulation, modelling and use of data analytics - that can help accelerate innovation in other sectors.
5. The UK’s games sector has shown strong growth, particularly over the last few years. The latest DCMS Sector Economic Estimates report on employment[3] suggests that jobs across the UK’s games sector more than doubled between 2011 and 2017, from 13,000 to 30,000. Trade association Ukie’s UK Games Map[4] shows more than 2,000 games businesses in the UK. Consumer spend figures published by Ukie[5] report that the market for video games in the UK was £5.11bn in 2017, up 12.4% on the previous year. This included £100m on VR hardware sales.
6. A range of factors play into our games sector’s strong position today including: the UK’s long history of games design and reputation for creativity and innovation; the highly skilled games development workforce; a supportive government which is looking to promote games sector growth and ensure proportionate regulation; the relatively mature ecosystem for games companies in the UK which includes a number of clusters and supportive communities (such as Dundee, Leamington Spa and Guildford); the UK’s global trading links including Europe and the wider world; the large domestic market for games; UK consumers’ reputation for being early adopters; the potential for existing inward investors to build on their established businesses and familiarity with the UK; our long-established R&D tax credit and more recent Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR).
7. The government is committed to supporting our creative industries through the tax reliefs for games, films, high-end television, children’s television and animation. The BFI’s Screen Business Report published in October 2018[6] showed that in 2016 there was a positive return on investment for all of the reliefs. For every £1 invested, film tax relief delivered £7.69, high end television tax relief delivered £6.10, animation tax relief delivered £4.44, children’s television tax relief delivered £2.63 and VGTR delivered £4.00.
8. HMRC figures[7] published in July 2018 show that since the relief was introduced in April 2014, 480 video game productions claimed VGTR, accounting for over £1 billion of UK expenditure. The Screen Business Report found that in 2016 the element of the games sector supported by VGTR supported 4,640 direct jobs and generated £294.1m in direct GVA. The report also suggested that when indirect, induced and spillover impacts were included games development supported by VGTR delivered an estimated 9,240 jobs and £525.0 million in GVA.
9. VR and AR titles can benefit from the reliefs where the productions meet the relevant eligibility criteria and pass the cultural test. Of the games certified for tax relief so far, 104 have used VR and ten have used AR technologies. To date two VR productions have been certified for Film Tax Relief and one VR production has been certified for Animation Tax Relief.
10. Other support for games includes the UK Games Fund, launched with £4m DCMS support in 2015 to help small games companies from across the UK address early stage finance issues, boost new IP creation and nurture talent. Over the last year we have announced an additional £1.7m government funding to expand the programme and enable it to run on to 2020. To date the UK Games Fund has helped 75 businesses and 170 graduates. Around 10% of the projects supported have used immersive technologies.
11. The government has also recently launched a Creative Scale-Up Programme to increase the profitability, scalability and productivity of fast-growing creative industries businesses to ensure they are better placed to access finance. This programme will be able to support early stage scalable games and immersive tech businesses operating in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and the West of England.
Skills
12. Immersive technologies and games require a strong pipeline of talent able to meet demand for cutting-edge technical skills and creative skills but also skills such as team-working, management and leadership, language, project management, financial management, sales and marketing and foreign languages.
13. Skills investment is at the heart of the government’s Industrial Strategy. The Creative Industries Sector Deal includes a focus on improving the supply and diversity of talent into the creative industries and industry and government commitments which will help ensure the sectors can continue to deliver strong growth and be well placed to exploit new and emerging opportunities such as in immersive technologies.
14. A major commitment of the Deal is the development and roll-out of a Creative Careers programme, benefitting from £12m in-kind support from industry and £2m seed funding from government. The programme will engage young people and careers advisors, raising awareness of the wide range of employment opportunities in the creative industries (which include digital creative sectors such as games and visual effects) and developing entry routes into employment in these sectors. This includes creating apprenticeship standards for a number of priority roles.
15. The government recognises the vital importance of digital skills at all levels - from the basic digital skills people need to make the most of being online, to the general digital skills increasingly needed in every job, through to the high level digital skills for the growing number of specialist digital roles across the economy. It is taking action across the entire education and training pipeline to ensure we have the digital skills to maintain our world leading digital economy.
16. To help tackle the digital skills challenge, DCMS has convened the Digital Skills Partnership (DSP) to bring government together with national and local businesses and charities to ensure that we address the digital skills gap in a more collaborative way, and that digital skills initiatives are better coordinated and targeted more effectively. The DSP will also build upon the 4 million pledges of free digital skills training opportunities that our industry partners pledged as part of the Digital Strategy, published in March 2017. More than 2.5 million of these pledges have already been delivered. DCMS will continue to work with DSP members to develop new opportunities, direct training to areas where need has been identified, and to encourage the sharing and scaling up of best practice in digital skills provision.
17. In relation to ensuring school leavers have the digital skills required for a modern economy and are better prepared to develop higher level digital skills such as those required for AR and VR, the government introduced a new and more rigorous computing curriculum across England in 2014. In November 2018 the government announced the successful bidder for the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) and its associated programmes, supported by £84m funding. The NCCE is intended to improve the teaching of computing and drive up participation in computer science.
Government support for growth and innovation in immersive technologies
18. The government is working with industry, regulators and consumer groups to support the responsible and ethical development of immersive technologies and content as part of our ambition to make the UK the safest place to be online and the best place to start and grow a digital business. This includes supporting the exploration of immersive in other industries and art forms. Government activities include:
Investments and business support
19. In March 2018, the government announced - as part of the Creative Industries Sector Deal - £33m from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to support the development of immersive technologies. This funding focuses on:
● £10m investment, including £5m from the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC)’s Creative Industries Cluster Programme, in the StoryFutures Academy, a new National Centre of Excellence for Immersive Storytelling that will be run by Royal Holloway, University of London and the National Film & Television School and involve a range of partners across film, TV, games, visual effects and immersive.
● £12m for collaborative research and development projects to deliver insights into audience perceptions and behaviours, improve the production of high-quality content and attract new private capital.
● A £16m demonstrator programme - under an Audience of the Future theme - supporting industry-led consortia in the creative industries to create new immersive experiences and test them with large-scale audiences.
20. UK Research and Innovation subsequently announced three Audience of the Future demonstrator projects on 10th January 2019. These involve £12m investment from government and £6m from industry and are:
● Performance: led by the Royal Shakespeare Company and involving 15 specialist organisations and pioneers in immersive technologies who will together explore what it means to perform live using AR and VR.
● Visitor Experience: led by Factory 42 which together with the National History Museum and Science Museum will bring dinosaurs and robots to life for audiences using immersive technologies.
● Sport Entertainment: led by esports company ESL which will work with leading academics and innovators across immersive technologies, data-driven content and broadcast to produce a new platform that will transform the way sports are experienced by remote audiences.
21. A fourth demonstrator - covering Moving Image - will be announced shortly.
22. In addition to the StoryFutures Academy, the AHRC Creative Cluster Programme will support projects such as the University of York-led project to establish the screen industries of Yorkshire and Humber as a Centre of Excellence in immersive and interactive storytelling, and a project led by the University of the West of England to help the Bristol and Bath region’s screen and performance industries adapt to emerging technologies[8].
23. Immersive technology is one of three digital technologies (alongside AI and Future Networks) where the Digital Catapult is focusing its activities between 2018 and 2023. Its support for immersive tech companies includes:
● Immersive Labs in Brighton, London, Northern Ireland and the North East & Tees Valley which SMEs can use to develop their tech and showcase to potential investors.
● A world-leading volumetric video and 3D capture ‘Dimension Studio’ that can be used by SMEs for product development.
● CreativeXR - a rolling three month innovation programme in association with the Arts Council England (ACE) that supports SMEs, creative innovators, and arts and culture organisations with producing immersive content.
● Augmentor - a 10 week programme that supports early-stage immersive SMEs in developing new applications and attracting investment.
24. The Culture is Digital (CiD) report[9] was launched in March 2018. The report focuses on a number of commitments from across the culture, tech and public sectors which focus on audiences, data, digital strategy and the digital skills and capability of the culture sector. Whilst the report does not have a specific remit to advance immersive technologies it does highlight the transformative potential of immersive media to rethink cultural content and how we interact with it. The report also demonstrates the opportunities that artists and institutions like the Royal Opera House can bring for tech companies in showing new ways to interact with technology and create exciting offers of content for their platforms. The pivotal role of culture in this space is demonstrated by the success of cultural players in the Audience of the Future demonstrator programme: the Royal Shakespeare Company and Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and Almeida Theatre are contributing partners to two of the winning bids.
25. The CiD programme contains a number of commitments to advance the interaction of cultural institutions and companies with immersive technologies:
● The Royal Shakespeare Company, in partnership with Magic Leap, have created six Fellowships for students, academics and post- graduates that will look at new approaches to digital storytelling.
● The Royal Opera House is opening up a new space for experimentation to develop skill sets and innovative content on emerging tech platforms, including immersive technology.
● The National Gallery are creating a new innovation lab that will focus on using advanced technology to enhance the visitor experience and develop partnership models between arts, digital and academic institutions.
Work of Arms-Length Bodies
26. The British Film Institute (BFI) is the UK’s leading agency for the moving image and responsible for encouraging ‘the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout Our United Kingdom[10]. Its remit therefore extends beyond film to all forms of moving image, including immersive and interactive.
27. In 2017, the BFI de-restricted National Lottery film funding to allow it to support a broader range of content, including immersive and interactive content. The BFI’s intention is to continue to embrace new and emerging forms of the moving image in their programming and conservation plans. Throughout August 2018 for example, BFI Southbank offered hands-on masterclasses and screenings using the latest immersive film technologies to inspire young film makers.
28. Arts Council England (ACE) has worked in collaboration with Digital Catapult on the aforementioned CreativeXR programme. Following the development of 20 prototypes seed funded by the programme, five projects were selected to receive further funding to develop their projects and make them publicly available.
29. There have also been a number of projects using immersive technology funded through ACE’s open grants fund. This includes organisations such as Sheffield Doc Fest, Abandon Normal Devices, Curious Directive and Bristol’s Watershed.
30. Immersive media is being used by a number of DCMS’ sponsored museums to increase participation and provide unprecedented access to precious specimens. For example, the Natural History Museum’s ‘Hold the World’ exhibit allows audiences to experience areas of the museum that are usually closed to the public in a groundbreaking interactive experience.
Telecoms infrastructure
31. The government is providing the digital infrastructure to support the development of technologies such as immersive tech, many applications of which rely on fast, responsive, and mobile data.
32. In May 2018, the Chancellor announced government’s ambitious target for nationwide full fibre coverage by 2033. Our Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, published in July 2018, sets out our Strategy for delivering world leading telecoms infrastructure.
33. The Review concluded that 5G offers the potential for new revenue opportunities - both for existing players but also for new entrants - and suggests policies to support market expansion whilst protecting competition. Specifically, the review recommended policies to:
● Make it easier and cheaper to deploy mobile infrastructure.
● Support the growth of new infrastructure deployment models.
● Fund beneficial 5G-enabled use-cases.
● Promote new, innovative 5G services from existing and new players, through the release of additional spectrum and spectrum authorisation.
34. The Review also sets out recommendations and actions to support our work to make the policy and regulatory framework sufficiently flexible and forward- looking to reflect the growing convergence between fixed and mobile networks and services.
35. The Review identified that around 10% of premises would not get full fibre commercially by 2033, largely in rural and remote areas. These areas will require additional funding of around £3bn to support investment. Critical to delivering our ambition of nationwide fibre coverage is the “outside-in” approach set out in the Review, which seeks to ensure that this 10% of premises is addressed at the same pace as the rest of the country. The Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme is the first step of this approach, with £200 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund announced in Budget 2018 to trial a model to deliver full fibre to premises in rural and remote areas, combining demand-side and supply-side interventions.
36. Our £280m Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme is designed to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks in both rural and urban locations across the UK. Full fibre broadband connections are faster, more reliable, and cheaper to operate than traditional copper wires, and they are future proof. Full fibre has been tested in laboratory settings and has been found to be capable of supporting gigabit, terabit and even petabit speeds, which will serve the UK far into the future. Full fibre connections will also support the deployment of 5G. However, currently only around 5% of UK premises have access to a full fibre connection. The government's investment in full fibre networks will allow more people to have the faster speeds they need to take advantage of new technologies.
37. To help meet the government's ambition to make the UK a global leader in 5G technology, the government is investing in a nationally coordinated programme of 5G testbed facilities and application trials to help identify deployment, business and technical challenges that may impact future 5G networks. So far, the government has allocated £200m from the National Productivity Investment Fund for this 5G Testbeds and Trials programme. The Ultra Low Latency feature of 5G enables highly responsive multi-player interactive experiences to be delivered on the move, where these previously could only be achieved tethered to a fibre connection.
38. Current projects include:
● the 5G Test Network, (a collaboration with the University of Surrey, University of Bristol & Kings College London to create a test network to trial 5G technologies and applications across a range of sectors).
○ In March 2018, the University of Bristol Smart Internet Lab hosted the Layered Realities Weekend. The event demonstrated what benefits 5G technology could bring to the creative industries in the future through a series of demos, including a virtual-reality dance piece.
● Six 5G projects exploring innovative radio technologies.
○ One of the projects focusing on immersive technology is the 5G Smart Tourism Testbed. This project will focus on delivering enhanced visual experiences for tourists using Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), 3D motion tracking, and 4k 360° content streaming technology, in major attractions in Bath and Bristol.
○ For example, visitors to the Roman Baths in Bath can now view the site at various periods throughout its history, in addition to the one covered by existing tourist information.
● The Urban Connected Communities (UCC) project to trial new 5G technology, services and applications for citizens, the public sector and industry in the West Midlands. There is potential for development and commercial trials of immersive gaming and esports applications in the West Midlands.
Future projects are in development for specific industry sectors and rural communities.
Trade and Inward Investment
39. The Department for International Trade’s Creative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy highlights a strategic UK strength in the combination of creativity and technology, with immersive technologies forming a key part of that narrative. The strategy has been presented in the US, India, across Europe and into Latin America. In an emerging market DIT’s FDI clients are interested in how the UK is able to combine creative excellence in the development of games, film, TV, VFX and also theatre and art to generate new content forms.
40. The High Potential Opportunities Scheme (HPO) launched by DIT last year will help drive inward investment in the video games sector. The scheme aims to identify and strategically promote FDI opportunities around the country that are currently disadvantaged by a lack of market information. Local Enterprise Partnerships, councils and business organisations were invited to apply to the scheme. One of the successful applications, Coventry and Warwickshire’s Games Publishing project, will focus on attracting a major games publisher or digital platform provider to the area.
41. A strong push of R&D capacity, with the Creative Industries Sector Deal investment as a key element, has resulted in expanded UK activity from major inward investors, including ILM, Magic Leap and Turner. The UK’s identified strength in immersive content production will continue to form a strategic focus for 2019, with international activity planned in partnership with Immerse UK and Innovate UK.
42. DIT has also supported games trade shows which have had an immersive dimension including GDC in San Francisco, Gamescom in Cologne, China Joy in Shanghai and the Slush start-up event held in Helsinki in December. In March there will be immersive content at the SXSW event in Austin, Texas.
Esports
43. Esports - games played professionally with large prizes and audiences - attract large attendance figures, enormous numbers of online viewers and large investments in places including South Korea and North America. The global audience in 2018 is expected to have reached 380 million, with year- over-year growth of 13.8%, rising to over 550 million in 2021.[11]
44. Esports interest is now accelerating in the UK, with estimates that there were 6.5 million viewers in 2016.[12] Over recent years the UK has seen an increasing number of announcements of new esports activity - for example ESL taking DOTA 2 tournaments to Birmingham, Cloud 9’s creation of the London Spitfire team (which went on to win the Overwatch League), LVP and Riot Games’ League of Legends tournaments, the CS:GO Major hosted by FaceIt and Red Bull’s new Gaming Sphere in London.
45. The number of businesses and employees involved in esports in the UK is small at present. The BFI’s Screen Business Report[13] included figures collated by video games trade association Ukie on the headcount for the esports teams and specialist companies operating here, as well as in relevant departments at companies such as Twitch which stream esports. This data suggest that there are around 280 people working directly on esports in the UK.
46. Whilst the UK esports sector is relatively young, we see significant potential for it to develop as an area of real national strength given that many of the likely enablers are already in place - including our world-class games, entertainment and sports sectors. We are very interested in fully exploiting opportunities as it develops - for example around creation of esports studios, tournament venues and related services, broadcast, advertising and also driving innovation and public engagement. Our ongoing policy development will consider the opportunities and barriers to market-driven growth. It will also look at the potential social impacts, both positive and negative, and any implications for current or future regulation. This is an area where we think the evidence is currently limited and we welcome the Select Committee’s focus.
47. There will also be significant opportunities for sports and esports to benefit each other. We note for example the inaugural ePremier League, a competitive gaming tournament open to UK-based players of EA Sports FIFA 19 launched on 5 January. It will last three months and culminate in a final broadcast live on Sky Sports and Premier League social media channels. Events of this nature can broaden audiences, allow UK esports to benefit from the knowledge and experience of established sports and open new commercial opportunities.
48. The recently-announced Audience of the Future demonstrator for sports entertainment, mentioned earlier, will look at how the data-rich environment of esports can transform the way that they - and down the line also traditional sports - can be experienced through VR technologies.
Addictions, social impacts and safeguarding
49. Through the Digital Charter, the government wants to make sure new digital technologies work for everyone – for citizens, businesses, and society as a whole. Whilst the government is keen to ensure the UK is well placed to capitalise on the new economic and social opportunities that immersive tech is now opening up, we also recognise the importance of ensuring that appropriate legal and ethical safeguards are in place to protect users of the technology and to consider concerns and look at evidence around potential addictions or excessive behaviours.
50. We are aware of concerns in some quarters about the amount of time that some people - especially young people - spend in immersive worlds. Government is looking closely at studies and research around the potentially addictive nature of some technologies, and possible links between gaming and gambling and considering the impact of social media use and screen time on young people. However, the evidence in these areas is still emerging, and at this stage it can sometimes provide a conflicting picture. It is important that we take steps to better understand both the positive and negative impacts of new technologies.
51. There has been wide debate for example about the relationship between social media and mental health. The evidence between social media and mental ill-health is not conclusive or robust enough to define the relationship as causal and so the definitive impact of social media on children’s mental health and wellbeing is unknown. Social media and screen use clearly has the potential to influence a child’s mental health, but it is also one of many factors. The Chief Medical Officer has commissioned independent researchers from University College London (UCL) to carry out a systematic evidence review on the impact of social media on children and young people’s health. The review covers cyberbullying, online gaming, sleep problems, problematic internet-use, or ‘internet addiction’, where there is a social impact. UCL will present their review to date to the CMO in January 2019 when the CMO will then consider next steps.
52. We anticipate that the review will highlight gaps in the evidence and pave the way for future research.
53. DCMS will continue to work with the Department for Health and Social Care to explore a range of possible policy options to take forward in relation to young people’s mental health and social media.
54. Very large numbers of people play games on and offline - about half the UK population. For the vast majority it is an enjoyable recreational activity but research shows a small number of people can develop excessive behaviours that may become harmful. We have noted the recent decision by the World Health Organisation to include "gaming disorder" in its latest draft International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).
55. Our response to the Internet Safety Green Paper[14] published last year outlines how we will work with online platforms and agencies such as the Video Standards Council (VSC) Rating Board, trade bodies such as Ukie and others to continue to improve online safety in games, encourage responsible gaming and promote messages and guidance around ensuring gaming is part of a balanced, healthy lifestyle, particularly for children. Work will include monitoring and examining any emerging evidence relating to the impact of immersive technologies on users and commissioning new research where appropriate. Our consideration of emerging evidence will also look at the potential for these technologies to support wellbeing and resilience - for example, by enabling social connections and reducing loneliness.
Online Harms White Paper
56. Following the consultation on our Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper, we are committed to introducing further online safety legislation. A joint DCMS- Home Office White Paper will be published, setting out a range of legislative and non-legislative measures to tackle online harms and set clear responsibilities for tech companies to keep UK citizens safe.
57. The White Paper will establish a government-wide approach to online safety, delivering the Digital Charter’s ambitions of making the UK the safest place in the world to be online, whilst also leading the world in innovation-friendly regulation that supports the growth of the tech sector. It will address both legal and illegal harms.
Gambling
58. The Gambling Commission is an arms length body of DCMS and was set up under the Gambling Act 2005 to regulate commercial gambling in Great Britain. All gambling companies providing gambling facilities to consumers in Great Britain, wherever they are based, must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with the conditions and codes of practice of their operating licences. The Gambling Commission monitors gambling operators to ensure that they comply with their licence conditions, and can take regulatory action where there is evidence of a breach.
59. In a position paper published in March 2017[15], the Gambling Commission set out its continued commitment to tackling issues arising from potential convergence between gaming and gambling, looking at developments such as ‘skins’ betting, loot boxes and social casino gaming.
60. In September 2018, the Gambling Commission, along with 15 other regulators from Europe and the USA signed a declaration[16] which outlined common concerns around gaming and gambling. The regulators agreed to work together to monitor the characteristics of video games and social gaming and where there is potential cross-over into gambling.
61. Skin gambling is the use of in-game items to gamble. This has sometimes been offered by third party sites. The Gambling Commission has shown that it will take action and prosecute unlicensed gambling with “skins”. In 2017, it successfully prosecuted the operators of a website, FutGalaxy, for providing illegal gambling facilities for in-game items. The Commission is also seeking to work with the video games industry to raise awareness of and explore solutions to the issue of unlicensed skin gambling.
62. “Gambling-style games” are free to play games that may look and play like gambling games but do not have a prize and do not meet the legal definition of gambling. The Gambling Commission recently consulted on proposals to require gambling operators to complete age verification checks before consumers can access free to play gambling-style games. They are expected to publish their response to the consultation in the coming months.
63. As esports is especially popular amongst young people, concerns have been raised that gambling on esports may be attractive to young people. However, the Gambling Commission in its March 2017 position paper, concluded that existing controls are in place to protect children from gambling harm. Any licensed operator is required to have controls in place to prevent underage gambling. Overall, the Gambling Commission concluded that the existing regulatory framework is sufficient to mitigate risks involving esports and gambling, including where the issue might be considered unique to epsorts when compared to traditional sports, such as ensuring fair competition when contests are conducted entirely through digital technology.
64. Loot boxes do not fall under gambling law in Great Britain where the in-game items acquired are confined for use within the game and cannot be cashed out. However, microtransactions in games - including loot boxes - are subject to the Consumer Protection Regulations which protect against misleading or aggressive marketing.
65. We welcome the VSC Ratings Board and PEGI’s move last year to introduce a new label for video games to warn parents where these include the opportunity to make in-game purchases, including loot boxes.
66. We are aware of concerns that features of some video games could encourage gambling-like behaviour and we will continue to look closely at any evidence around this issue.
Data protection and ethical use of data
67. Immersive technologies, like VR headsets, often generate vast amounts of new personal data, such as a person’s location and physical movements. One of the principles of the Digital charter is that personal data should be respected; in 2018 we introduced a new Data Protection Act to ensure that data is kept safely and securely, and that it is used in a transparent, fair and appropriate manner. This new Act provides increased powers for the Information Commissioner.
68. In 2016, we also published our National Cyber Security Strategy, which sets out how the government will:
● Defend the UK against evolving cyber threats – ensuring we have the means to respond effectively to incidents, to ensure UK networks, data and systems are protected and resilient, and that citizens, businesses and the public sector have the knowledge and ability to defend themselves.
● Deter hostile action – ensuring the UK is not a hard target for all forms of aggression in cyberspace.
● Develop our capabilities to overcome the challenges – ensuring we have an innovative, growing cyber security industry underpinned by world-leading scientific research and development, and a self- sustaining pipeline of talent providing the skills to meet our national needs.
69. The Strategy is delivered by key government departments and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and is underpinned by the National Cyber Security Programme - £1.9bn of transformational investment by 2021.
70. Potential ethical considerations of immersive technologies are likely to be focused on privacy and data-sharing issues and consideration of wider societal impacts from increasingly addictive technologies.
71. In 2018 the government established the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, a major new advisory body that will identify the challenges and opportunities presented by the use of data-driven technologies and provide independent advice to government on the governance solutions that are needed to address them. The government is committed to placing the Centre on a statutory footing in due course.
72. In agreeing the specific areas of focus of its initial work programme the Centre will need to carefully prioritise its projects based on assessment of the value generated by those projects, the rationale for the Centre’s intervention and the importance of addressing those issues now.
73. The Centre currently has £9m of funding for its first three years of operation, which was provided in the Autumn 2017 Budget. We expect the full details of the Centre’s initial work programme will be announced in early 2019. The Centre will also publish a strategic vision for how it will work with other organisations such as the AI Council and the Office for AI, including any formal agreement or memoranda of understanding it has reached.
