Written questions by Coleman.

What steps he is taking to encourage businesses to use data more effectively to increase productivity.

The Invest 2035: Industrial Strategy Green Paper sets out our vision for a credible, 10-year plan to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest in the high-growth sectors that will drive our growth mission.The Industrial Strategy Green Paper demonstrates our ambition to support businesses in using data more effectively, including exploring interventions that will: improve the use of public sector data (as a driver of growth); better empower individuals and businesses with their data through the development of Smart Data schemes; and help improve data maturity in businesses. The consultation is open until 24 November 2024.

Whether the effective use of data to drive productivity will be included in the proposed industrial strategy council's remit.

The Industrial Strategy Council (ISC) will be responsible for informing and monitoring the development and delivery of the long-term industrial strategy, ensuring that policy interventions are based on a high-quality evidence base. The ISC will recommend actions, focusing on growth-driving sectors and the pro-business environment. It will also evaluate impacts. Use of effective data is central to the ISC’s role.The government will legislate to establish this statutory body in due course. Ahead of legislation, we are introducing an interim Industrial Strategy Advisory Council to ensure the Industrial Strategy is developed with independent expert advice.