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Written question asked by Navendu Mishra (Labour) on Friday, 28 August 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 September 2026. It was answered by Nick Smith (Labour) on Friday, 11 September 2026 on behalf of the House of Commons Commission.

Parliamentary Digital Service: Digital Service Providers

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether cloud services used by the Parliamentary Digital Service make use of data centres outside of the United Kingdom.

Answer

Yes. A small number of cloud services used by the Parliamentary Digital Service make use of data centres outside the United Kingdom.

Parliament’s policy is to host and process its data in the United Kingdom wherever practicable. Where a provider does not offer a United Kingdom location, the European Union is used as the preferred alternative, and only a very small number of services operate outside both. These arrangements are kept under review and services are moved to United Kingdom hosting where suitable options become available. It would not be appropriate to identify individual services or the specific locations at which their data is held, as to do so could prejudice the security of Parliament’s networks and data.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
21954
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Data centres Digital service providers Parliamentary Digital Service
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk