Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will commission a formal assessment of the potential effect of automation on regional economies over the next 10 years.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics will change jobs and businesses across the country, and we want people to be able to capitalise on these opportunities. Following a review of AI led by Professor Dame Wendy Hall and Jérôme Pesenti, Growing the AI Industry in the UK, our Industrial Strategy will address the Grand Challenge of making the UK a global centre for AI and data innovation and embed the power of this technology across our economy.

Embedding AI across the UK will create thousands of good quality jobs and drive economic growth across the regions. A recent study found digital technologies created a net total of 80,000 new jobs annually across a population similar to the UK. By one estimate, AI could add £232bn to the UK economy by 2030.