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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the contribution of big data to GDP in the current financial year.

Big data, combined with advances in computing technology, is creating new opportunities for business growth across all industry sectors. It enables companies to gain new insights on consumer trends and preferences, improve productivity, and develop innovative new products and services.

Figures are not currently available on the estimated contribution of big data to GDP this financial year, but industry research published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) in February 2016 estimates that between 2015 and 2020 the total benefit to the UK economy of big data analytics will amount to £241 billion, or £40 billion on average per year. The sectors expected to benefit most include manufacturing, professional services, telecoms and retail.

The CEBR report is available at: https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_gb/doc/analystreport/cebr-value-of-big-data.pdf