Whitehall’s education department is internally creating several systems using automation to support staff and citizens, and is also exploring the deployment of generic tools created by vendors, ministers have revealed

The Department for Education’s current uses of artificial intelligence include development of a new tool designed to trawl through records and determine those which the organisation is legally required to keep on file.

The technology being created by the DfE “classifies digital records to identify those that must be retained and archived in accordance with legislative requirements and The National Archives”, according to children and families minister Josh MacAlister.

He added that other AI-powered systems currently being developed by the department include a platform intended to support young people in finding locally available training courses.

“​The Find Education and Training tool integrates multiple datasets including course offerings, training programmes, and geographic mapping to support 16 to 18-year-old learners in accessing appropriate educational or training provision,” MacAlister added.

Beyond the tools being developed by the DfE for a specific purpose, the department has also “deployed Microsoft Copilot Chat across the organisation to support staff in their daily work, [with] examples of how this tool is used include document summarisation, multi-source information analysis, and to support the drafting of briefings and papers”.

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The minister, who was answering a written parliamentary question from Reform MP Lee Anderson, said that the education department has a wider strategy to enable AI adoption. To support this plan, the DfE has also “established a secure infrastructure that enables teams to test and evaluate AI solutions within a controlled sandbox environment prior to the development of new AI-based products”.

​“Throughout these initiatives, the department has aligned our approach with the government’s AI Playbook, particularly its security principles,” MacAlister added. “This includes ensuring our AI systems are secure by design, resilient to threats, and deployed in accordance with the Cyber Security Standard. Risk assessments and assurance processes are embedded into our development lifecycle to uphold robust security and governance. ​The department also acknowledges and adheres to the mandatory obligation for government departments to comply with the AI Transparency and Risk Standards, which guide our efforts to ensure transparency, accountability, and responsible risk management in all AI deployments.”

The DfE’s use of AI to help assess and categorise records echoes a similar tool first created by the Cabinet Office in 2022. The algorithmic system has been used by the central department to analyse, sort – and delete – millions of government documents and is “consistently more accurate than humans” in performing such checks, according to online transparency records.