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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to promote growth in the British tech sector.

We are committed to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a technology business and to ensure the benefits are felt in all corners of the country. Our Digital Strategy, published in June 2022, sets out our vision and the actions required to deliver on it.

The Digital Strategy outlined the government’s desire to support our digital tech sector by ensuring that the next generation of innovative tech companies can access the capital they need to flourish in the UK and abroad. To accelerate the growth of start-ups and scale-ups, we have launched the Digital Growth Grant Competition, worth up to £12.09 million, which will support companies with access to finance, tailored advice, talent and markets across the regions and nations of the UK. We have also worked to expand the generosity of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, the Company Share Option Plan and to ensure R&D tax credits will extend to data and computing costs for the first time.

We are also working to provide British tech companies with the infrastructure they need to grow. The government is investing in digital infrastructure to extend 4G mobile coverage and deliver gigabit-capable broadband across the UK through our £5 billion Project Gigabit delivering at least 85% gigabit-capable broadband coverage by 2025 and nationwide coverage by 2030.

Ensuring that British tech companies have access to a highly skilled workforce is critical to the growth of the sector. We are funding AI and Data Science Conversion Courses to support underrepresented groups from non-STEM backgrounds to undertake a masters in AI and Data Science, quickly upskilling to secure employment in the UK’s cutting-edge sectors. Earlier this year we announced up to a further 2,000 scholarships for the programme. We have also announced £117 million in funding to create 1,000 more PhDs through Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs).

To support further action on digital upskilling, we launched the Digital Skills Council in June. The Council brings together industry leaders and training experts and l will review what more government and industry can do collaboratively to improve workforce digital skills in the UK.

We are also driving growth in key areas of UK specialism. As part of the £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy the government is driving growth and innovation in the UK cyber security sector. This includes the Cyber Runway programme to grow, develop and scale cyber security businesses, and our network of regional cyber clusters which are driving growth across all regions of the UK by supporting businesses in areas such as Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and the North West.