Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell

The Department for Business and Trade maintains statistics on energy intensive industries (EII) which can be seen in full as an attachment.

In 2022, the regions with the highest employment in eligible energy intensive industries were the North West (59,590), the West Midlands (55,055) and Yorkshire and The Humber (53,135).

EIIs with the highest employment in 2022 were manufacture of other plastic products (45,850), manufacture of corrugated paper and paperboard and of containers of paper and paperboard (25,443), and processing and preserving of poultry meat (25,000).

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill [Employment Rights Bill: impact assessments - GOV.UK ].

These Impact Assessments have been submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee who have acknowledged their receipt [Employment Rights Bill: statement on lateness of IA submission - GOV.UK ].

As is standard practice, this has also been published on the Employment Rights Bill page on the Parliament UK website [Employment Rights Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament ].

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology does not hold information on the average size of a UK industrial site by land area.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology does not hold information on the physical size of the UK industrial production sector in terms of land area.

The Government has not collected figures on the growth of data centre capacity but has monitored the market periodically and through industry engagement. Other sources for this historical data are available, through Tech UK or CBRE's market outlooks for example.

The Government’s estimate, of the UK’s data centre capacity, defined as the maximum rated IT load of colocation data centres, is broken down by region in a table below. This is estimated as of Autumn 2024.

Total 1.6 GW

The Government has not collected figures on the growth of data centre capacity but has monitored the market periodically and through industry engagement. Other sources for this historical data are available, through Tech UK or CBRE's market outlooks for example.

The Government’s estimate, of the UK’s data centre capacity, defined as the maximum rated IT load of colocation data centres, is broken down by region in a table below. This is estimated as of Autumn 2024.

Total 1.6 GW

As set out in my previous response, HM Treasury currently has no plans to adopt a strategic bitcoin reserve.

The UK and US have a close and historic relationship and hold regular engagement. We will not comment on hypothetical policy positions.

The UK’s foreign currency assets are held in the Exchange Equalisation Account. These assets are managed in line with the following investment principles:

• Ensuring readiness to meet the policy requirements of the reserves
• Limiting risk and volatility to avoid compromising the policy readiness of the reserves
• Maximising returns within these constraints

Bitcoin has been a historically highly volatile asset relative to stable fiat currencies like the US dollar, and commodities, such as gold. This volatility makes Bitcoin unsuitable as a reserve asset for the UK.

Given this, the Government has no plans to adopt a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

The Home Office is reviewing plans to publish new statistics on crypto assets as part of future annual stats bulletins on asset recovery in response to the new powers that came into effect in April 2024.

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains powers to deprive criminals of their money, or other property connected to criminal activity, and recover the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrencies. As with all assets, action to seize, recover and manage crypto assets is for independent law enforcement bodies and the courts to consider.

We do not routinely publish the amount recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by asset type.

The Home Office is reviewing plans to publish new statistics on crypto assets as part of future annual stats bulletins on asset recovery in response to the new powers that came into effect in April 2024.

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains powers to deprive criminals of their money, or other property connected to criminal activity, and recover the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrencies. As with all assets, action to seize, recover and manage crypto assets is for independent law enforcement bodies and the courts to consider.

We do not routinely publish the amount recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by asset type.

The Government does not hold any Bitcoin.

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains powers to deprive criminals of their money, or other property connected to criminal activity, and recover the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrencies. As with all assets, action to seize, recover and manage crypto assets is for independent law enforcement bodies and the courts to consider.

We do not routinely publish the amount recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by asset type. We publish annual statistics on the amount of proceeds of crime confiscated and recovered as detailed on GOV.UK Asset recovery statistics: financial years ending 2019 to 2024 - GOV.UK.