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Digital Service Providers: Competition

Asked by Julia LopezConservativeDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled Answered 20 March 2026UIN 119993

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has assessed the potential merits of regulatory intervention in the UK cloud market; and what steps she is taking to help reduce barriers to competition in that market.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan

In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers.

The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.

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