Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the contribution of the level of growth of the technology sector in Solihull constituency.

The UK’s start up and scale up tech ecosystem was recently valued at over £1 trillion. The UK is only the third country in the world to have a tech sector reach this valuation. We are committed to ensuring the benefits and growth of the tech sector are felt in all corners of the country. Last year we published DCMS’ Regional Tech Ecosystems report, which aims to better understand the drivers of growth at a local level.

Our Department’s Regional GVA official statistics show that the tech sector contributed over £7.5 billion to the West Midlands’ economy in 2019 in real terms (approx. 5.3% of the region’s GVA). The tech sector has consistently provided the largest contribution out of all of DCMS’ sectors to the West Midlands economy. The region's tech ecosystem was recently valued at an impressive £15.3 billion - up from £11.5 billion in 2021. Between April 2021 - March 2022, there were 111,000 filled jobs in the West Midlands’ tech sector, representing almost 4% of all filled jobs in the region.

We are making investments in our Digital Infrastructure to drive growth and innovation at a local level. Last month my Department announced that the world-class, UK Telecommunications Laboratory, will be opening in the metropolitan borough of Solihull. The laboratory will provide a safe environment for security experts to test new and existing software and equipment, using groundbreaking technology. This will keep our public telecommunications networks secure, and support incumbent and new supplier entrants to the market. Importantly, in close collaboration with academia and industry, this national capability will drive the growth of skills in the key technical areas of telecoms and cyber security across Solihull and the country.