Motion that this House has considered Government support for UK-based tech companies. Agreed to on question.

Motion that this House has considered Government support for UK-based tech companies. Agreed to on question.

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Government support for UK-based tech companies.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I am pleased to have secured this debate.

It is hard to measure the true economic value of the technology sector in the UK, but I think...

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Government support for UK-based tech companies.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I am pleased to have secured this debate.

It is hard to measure the true economic value of the technology sector in the UK, but I think...

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this important debate on Government support for UK-based tech companies. My Slough constituency is a huge tech and data hub; indeed, it has the second largest concentration of data centres anywhere in the world. Does he agree that it would be an act...

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this important debate on Government support for UK-based tech companies. My Slough constituency is a huge tech and data hub; indeed, it has the second largest concentration of data centres anywhere in the world. Does he agree that it would be an act...

I have a list of Government follies here, if the hon. Member would like me to pass them on. In all seriousness, I completely agree with him on the importance of the industry and those jobs, and I am sure that the Minister will pick that up when he responds.

To...

I have a list of Government follies here, if the hon. Member would like me to pass them on. In all seriousness, I completely agree with him on the importance of the industry and those jobs, and I am sure that the Minister will pick that up when he responds.

To...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts—and I genuinely hope you have some good news about Sheffield Wednesday in the next few days.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts—and I genuinely hope you have some good news about Sheffield Wednesday in the next few days.

I stand corrected, Mr Betts—I was in meetings all morning, so I have not seen the sports news yet.

For constituencies like mine, which were dependent on heavy industry, the development of high technology offers new growth opportunities that we can harness in our valley communities once again. I want to...

I stand corrected, Mr Betts—I was in meetings all morning, so I have not seen the sports news yet.

For constituencies like mine, which were dependent on heavy industry, the development of high technology offers new growth opportunities that we can harness in our valley communities once again. I want to...

I recently visited the Nexus innovation hub at the University of Leeds, which does the things that my hon. Friend was just describing, with innovative spin-outs and companies genuinely innovating in really challenging areas. However, they struggle to access Government procurement because they do not have things like Cyber Essentials,...

I recently visited the Nexus innovation hub at the University of Leeds, which does the things that my hon. Friend was just describing, with innovative spin-outs and companies genuinely innovating in really challenging areas. However, they struggle to access Government procurement because they do not have things like Cyber Essentials,...

I am always happy to take interventions, but my hon. Friend seems to have written my speech for me, because I will develop that argument as I go along. I note he is from Leeds—Leeds pinch all of Sheffield Wednesday’s best managers, do they not, Mr Betts?

Spin-outs offer postgraduate students...

I am always happy to take interventions, but my hon. Friend seems to have written my speech for me, because I will develop that argument as I go along. I note he is from Leeds—Leeds pinch all of Sheffield Wednesday’s best managers, do they not, Mr Betts?

Spin-outs offer postgraduate students...

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) on securing this important debate. We have heard from both sides of the Chamber that the British tech sector spreads into all our constituencies, so it concerns...

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) on securing this important debate. We have heard from both sides of the Chamber that the British tech sector spreads into all our constituencies, so it concerns...

Does my hon. Friend share my view that, although we can be rightly proud of having the third most valuable tech ecosystem in the world, we cannot be complacent, especially amid increasing international uncertainty? Shearwell Data in my constituency is exactly the sort of business that he refers to. A...

Does my hon. Friend share my view that, although we can be rightly proud of having the third most valuable tech ecosystem in the world, we cannot be complacent, especially amid increasing international uncertainty? Shearwell Data in my constituency is exactly the sort of business that he refers to. A...

I thank my hon. Friend for her comprehensive intervention, which speaks to exactly the issues that I will raise.

The key example is DeepMind, which was the world-leading AI company. We, the Brits, failed to create the ecosystem, funding and risk-taking capital to enable it to scale fully. It was then...

I thank my hon. Friend for her comprehensive intervention, which speaks to exactly the issues that I will raise.

The key example is DeepMind, which was the world-leading AI company. We, the Brits, failed to create the ecosystem, funding and risk-taking capital to enable it to scale fully. It was then...

I held a roundtable in my constituency with the Startup Coalition just two weeks ago. We found that one of the biggest barriers was not an absence of talent or expertise in my town, but a poverty of access to information, advice and guidance. No one had heard of small...

I held a roundtable in my constituency with the Startup Coalition just two weeks ago. We found that one of the biggest barriers was not an absence of talent or expertise in my town, but a poverty of access to information, advice and guidance. No one had heard of small...

That is an excellent point. It is very much something that the Government can do, because they understand where capital can be found and how to create the legal and regulatory ecosystem that enables these companies to thrive.

Let me touch briefly on access to capital—I am thinking of slightly larger...

That is an excellent point. It is very much something that the Government can do, because they understand where capital can be found and how to create the legal and regulatory ecosystem that enables these companies to thrive.

Let me touch briefly on access to capital—I am thinking of slightly larger...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship today, Mr Betts. I thank the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) for securing such an important debate—a debate that is of significance to my constituency and the role it plays in supporting UK-based tech companies.

In my former...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship today, Mr Betts. I thank the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) for securing such an important debate—a debate that is of significance to my constituency and the role it plays in supporting UK-based tech companies.

In my former...

As always, it is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts; thank you for all you do for us in relation to Westminster Hall. I also thank the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) for raising this issue and thereby giving us all an...

As always, it is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts; thank you for all you do for us in relation to Westminster Hall. I also thank the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) for raising this issue and thereby giving us all an...

I just want to pay tribute to a number of lecturers at the universities in Northern Ireland. I used to work for the British Computer Society and the Northern Ireland branch was phenomenal. If the hon. Gentleman has not yet made contact with that branch, to speak to it about...

I just want to pay tribute to a number of lecturers at the universities in Northern Ireland. I used to work for the British Computer Society and the Northern Ireland branch was phenomenal. If the hon. Gentleman has not yet made contact with that branch, to speak to it about...

I thank the hon. Gentleman very much for that intervention; it is always good to get an intervention that reinforces the point of view that I am putting forward. Obviously, he has a personal knowledge of this issue and we thank him for that, too.

Due to the dedication and focus...

I thank the hon. Gentleman very much for that intervention; it is always good to get an intervention that reinforces the point of view that I am putting forward. Obviously, he has a personal knowledge of this issue and we thank him for that, too.

Due to the dedication and focus...

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) on securing this important debate. I suspect that, at this point, I am in danger of labouring the points already made by other hon. Members, but I...

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) on securing this important debate. I suspect that, at this point, I am in danger of labouring the points already made by other hon. Members, but I...

The hon. Member mentions a specific sector of the tech economy. Does he agree that tech companies do best when they are clustered together, particularly in innovation zones, so that they can share emerging knowledge and technologies, and link in with academia?

The hon. Member mentions a specific sector of the tech economy. Does he agree that tech companies do best when they are clustered together, particularly in innovation zones, so that they can share emerging knowledge and technologies, and link in with academia?