Michelle Donelan, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, said this week that the scholarships would fund master’s courses across England teaching practical AI and data science skills, coding, programming, machine learning, health data science and AI ethics.

The funding builds on more than 1,800 scholarships delivered in the last three years from £18m of UK government funding.

The government has also committed £60m in Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) finance to support for universities in areas with lower levels of research and development investment.

The RIF funding – relative to the size of each UK nation – will see £48.8m go to 110 universities across England and will be delivered by Research England.

A further £5.8m for Scotland, £3.4m for Wales and £2m for Northern Ireland will be allocated to devolved administrations to support local and regional economies.

Separately, an independent review into sex and gender data will be launched to help researchers and public bodies gather the information they need to effectively plan key services.

The review, supported by the Cabinet Office and Economic and Social Research Council, will be led by Professor Alice Sullivan of University College London.

Terms of reference for the sex and gender data review will be agreed in the coming weeks and is expected to conclude by spring of next year.