The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), the government body responsible for building the digital economy, sport, and culture in the UK, has invested over £20 million on data scientists and data analyst roles, according to official figures.
The data, retrieved through the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and analysed by the Parliament Street think tank, uncovered the number of staff in data scientist or data analyst roes, as well as their estimated total spending on these roles, each year for the past five years.
In total, the DCMS has spent an estimated £20,606,100 on data scientist and data analyst roles during the reporting period.
The number of full-time staff increased substantially, rising from 70 in 2017 to 150 in 2021, up from 90 in 2020 with a large data staff push.
Data expert Niall Crosby, CEO of AG Grid, said: “Today’s digital world creates a lot of data, and the ability to process, understand, and make decisions based on this data is very important. Investing in data analytics will enable the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to operate more efficiently. I am delighted to see the investment the government is making in this area.”
The largest investment came in 2021, with an estimated total spend of £7,383,000, up 75 per cent on 2020 which saw a spend of £4,213,800. Over the five years, annual investment increased by 140 per cent, rising from £3,081,400 in 2017.
The DCMS listed economists, statisticians, operation researchers and social researchers as the roles contained within data scientist and data analyst staff.
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Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport invests over £20m on Data Scientists
