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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to announce which projects will be run by DLT Field Labs to test the potential of distributed ledger technologies.

As was announced at Budget 2018, the Digital Catapult will test the potential of their Field Labs concept, a small experimental trial of Distributed Ledger Technology, working with businesses, investors, and regulators, in a range of areas. We anticipate the first Field Labs will focus on the construction sector and the management of goods in ports.

The Digital Catapult, while receiving significant long-term funding from the government, is an independent private sector entity. The specific arrangements of the Field Labs, including their participants, focuses, and timing, are therefore a commercial and private decision for the management of the Digital Catapult to take, and we expect it to set out further details in due course.