Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Green Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Green (Bolton West) (Con)]

14. What steps he is taking to ensure that the economic benefits of technological progress are shared throughout the UK.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen)]

By helping all places to access the benefits of technological progress and reach their full potential, we can drive growth at national level. Since autumn 2016, the Government have announced an additional £7 billion for science and innovation—an increase of about 20% to total Government R&D spending by 2021.

[Chris Green]

Does the Minister agree that digital technology enables further devolution away from London of high-tech industries? What are the Government doing to support that?

[John Glen]

The Government are expanding Tech City’s reach across the UK, creating Tech Nation by investing £21 million over four years to help people grow digital businesses. That includes a large-scale CityVerve smart city demonstrator in Manchester, which demonstrates how the internet of things, technologies and services can improve local services in transport, energy, health and culture.