Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will discuss with (a) Ofcom and (b) the Competition Commission potential measures to increase competition and diversity of supply in the provision of commercial and retail cloud data and storage services.

Fair competition and diversity of supply in the cloud sector is important for our country's economic growth. On 5 April, Ofcom proposed to refer the market to the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) (previously the Competition Commission) for further investigation into competition issues it has identified as part of its market study into cloud services. Ofcom is consulting on that referral.

If the CMA takes forward a market investigation, the CMA could choose to intervene in the market using its existing competition powers or through the new powers it will be granted via the upcoming Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill. The CMA is an operationally independent regulator and any intervention it makes in this market would be at its own discretion.

The Government regularly engages with its regulators and will continue to do so to ensure that the cloud services market remains competitive.