Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will set out further details on the Data Centre Compact in the Budget.

At Budget, Government published the Data Centre Covenant which establishes five tests: lowering electricity bills, investing to improve communities, meeting environmental standards, reindustrialising Britain, and strengthening UK sovereignty. All data centres are encouraged to meet these expectations, and strategically important projects seeking enhanced government support will be required to meet them.

In return for meeting these tests, the Government will establish a new Ministerial Control Centre to consider supportive action. It will be chaired by the Minister for AI, supported by the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and relevant ministers from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and other departments. It will consider action to accelerate time to power and speed up the planning process for strategically important projects. The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade are developing a framework for assessing strategically important projects. Further details will be set out in due course.