UK launches taskforce to'break down barriers' for women in technology The government has launched a new taskforce it says will help women enter, stay and lead in the UK tech sector. Led by technology secretary Liz Kendall, it will see female leaders from tech companies and organisations advise the government on how to boost diversity and economic growth in the industry. BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, recently suggested women accounted for only 22% of those working in IT specialist roles in the UK. Ms Kendall said the Women in Tech group would break down the barriers that still hold too many people back. When women are inspired to take on a role in tech and have a seat at the table, the sector can make more representative decisions, build products that serve everyone, she said.

'People have got to feel their kids are safe': Liz Kendall has urged the UK's internet regulator to fully use its powers.utomatically'People

A senior ministerial aide said AI companies would never have to compensate creatives for using their content to train their systems, in a statement that has alarmed campaigners demanding Labour deliver a fairer deal for musicians, artists and writers from the tech industry. Kirsty Innes, recently appointed as a special adviser to Liz Kendall, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, said "whether or not you philosophically believe the big AI firms should compensate content creators, they in practice will never legally have to". The government is consulting on how creatives should be compensated by AI firms and only last week leading British artists including Mick Jagger, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney urged Keir Starmer to stand up for creators' human rights and protect their work. Innes, who previously worked at the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) thinktank, has deleted the statement, which she posted to X in February, seven months before she became a ministerial adviser. In the deleted posts, seen by the Guardian, she said: "A lot of this has already happened and it can continue to happen outside the UK, whatever our laws say."