Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has considered the potential merits of ensuring that the value of data is included on balance sheets in company reports made to Companies House.

The inclusion of data in company balance sheets is already permitted. The accepted accounting principle is that data purchased by a company can be recognised as an intangible asset on a company’s balance sheet. All other data generated by a company is not permitted to be recognised as its value cannot be verified by auditors.