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Written question asked by James McMurdock (Independent (affiliation)) on Friday, 10 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 14 July 2026. It was answered by Chris McDonald (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade.


Data Centres: Job Creation

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the number of permanent jobs created by large-scale data centre developments once operational.

Answer

Data centres can be significant sources of employment, both during construction and to operate and maintain the data centres once completed. These include highly specialised jobs across IT, engineering, cybersecurity, and support services. Data centres also indirectly support employment in other industries, particularly in tech and AI.

My Department has not made a specific estimate of the number of jobs that will be created due to the substantial potential investment in the UK by data centre developers but is actively monitoring the sector.

TechUK have estimated that by 2035 there could be 40,200 additional jobs directly employed in data centre operational roles and 18,200 additional jobs directly employed in data centre construction roles over the period 2025–35.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
17931
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Job creation Data centres
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk