Official Statistics

DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates: Research and Development (R&D), 2022 - technical and quality assurance report

Published 16 January 2025

This document covers the following topics:

1. an overview of the content covered in the statistical release ‘DCMS sectors Economic Estimates: Research and Development (R&D), 2022’
2. an overview of DCMS sectors, how they are defined, and limitations of these definitions.
3. the methodology underlying the statistical release, including data sources.
4. the processes used to check that the estimates have been produced correctly.
5. other sources of information for the DCMS sectors.
6. further information, including contact details for DCMS statisticians.

1. Overview of release

The statistical release ‘DCMS sectors Economic Estimates: Research and Development (R&D), 2022’ provides an estimate of expenditure on research and development (R&D) by businesses within DCMS sectors and sub sectors.

The Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) survey was used to generate estimates of DCMS sector research and development expenditure as official statistics in development. 

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the provider of the underlying data used for the analysis presented within this release. As such, the same data sources are used for DCMS estimates as for national estimates, enabling comparisons to be made on a consistent basis.

Due to sampling and methodology changes to the BERD survey in 2022, estimates in this release are not directly comparable to previous estimates produced using BERD data for years before 2022. This includes estimates published by the ONS on Expenditure on research and development performed in UK businesses in the Creative Industries sector, 2020. More information on these changes is available in section 3.1 of the technical report. 

1.1 Official statistics in development

These statistics are labelled as official statistics in development. Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing development and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. These R&D estimates are designed to complement our other economic estimates. They are being published as official statistics in development because:

• these are new statistics which are still in development. We will be exploring further improvements, including the feasibility of additional breakdowns such as by region.
• we will be seeking user feedback on the usefulness of the statistics, the suitability of the methodology used and how clearly the statistics are communicated, including explanations about quality. 

We expect to make further methodological improvements and implement changes after seeking user feedback. These changes will be made by the next annual Research and Development (R&D) release, expected in 2025/2026. At this point we will make an assessment about whether the statistics still remain in development or if the label can be removed. 

We welcome feedback on these statistics. We particularly welcome views on:

• the methodology and data sources used
• the presentation of these statistics and explanations about the quality of the data
• suggestions for how these statistics could be further improved
• how you are using the estimates 

Please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk by 28 February 2025 with any feedback.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evidence@dcms.gov.uk. 

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website. 

1.2 Users

The users of these statistics fall into five broad categories:

• ministers and other political figures
• policy and other professionals in DCMS and other government departments
• industries and their representative bodies
• charitable organisations
• academics

The primary use of these statistics is to monitor the performance of the industries in the DCMS sectors, helping to understand how current and future policy interventions can be most effective.

2. Sector definitions

In February 2023, Machinery of Government changes meant that responsibility for the digital and telecoms sectors moved from DCMS to the newly created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Since April 2024, Economic Estimates for the digital sector have been published by DSIT, which can be found here.

2.1 Overview of DCMS Sectors

Main sector definitions

The sectors for which DCMS has responsibility are:

• civil society
• creative industries
• cultural sector
• gambling
• sport
• tourism

However, DCMS sectors R&D estimates do not include civil society as the sector cannot be uniquely identified in the ONS Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) survey. Further, the definition for tourism in this publication is not the same as that used in other economic estimates, and the results should not be compared across different economic estimates publications. More details are available in section 2.2.

In order to measure the size of the economy it is important to be able to define it. DCMS uses a range of definitions based on internal or UK agreed definitions. All definitions are based on the Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC) codes. This means nationally consistent sources of data can be used and enables international comparisons. Details of the UK SIC 2007 are available on the Standard Industrial Classification website.

The development of individual sector definitions in isolation as new sectors have been added to the department’s remit has meant that each sector definition has been designed to be the best possible measure of that sector, rather than being considered as part of a greater whole. This approach has led to overlap between DCMS sectors. For example, the cultural sector is defined using SIC codes that are nearly all within the Creative Industries. Due to the overlaps, summing over the number of businesses in individual sectors would give a total greater than the actual value. When calculating the DCMS sector total, these overlaps are accounted for and businesses are only counted once rather than multiple times.

Figure 1 below visually shows the overlap between DCMS Sectors in terms of industries. Users should note that this does not give an indication of the magnitude of the value of overlap.

A list of SIC codes appearing in each sector and subsector can be found in the tables accompanying the release.

Figure 1: Overlap of SIC codes within DCMS Sectors

2.1.2 Other sector definitions

Additional analysis is presented in the GVA release for the audio visual sector and the computer games sector.

The definition of the audio visual sector (see below) is intended to reflect the sectors covered by the EU Audio Visual Media Services Directive. 

59.11 - Motion picture, video and television programme production activities  

59.12 - Motion picture, video and television programme post-production activities  

59.13 - Motion picture, video and television programme distribution activities  

59.2 - Sound recording and music publishing activities  

60.1 - Radio broadcasting  

60.2 - Television programming and broadcasting activities  

63.91 - News agency activities  

63.99 - Other information service activities n.e.c.  

77.22 - Renting of video tapes and disks  

77.4 - Leasing of intellectual property and similar products, except copyrighted works 

The computer games sector combines the 4-digit SIC code 58.21 (Publishing of Computer Games) and 62.01/1 (Ready-made interactive leisure and entertainment software development). 

A number of software programming companies in 62.01 – ‘Computer programming activities’ may also contribute to the output of computer games, as part of a range of programming activities. This is not included in these computer games estimates, but will have been implicitly included in the ‘IT, software and computer services’ group (creative industries) in the main estimates.

2.2 Details and limitations of sector definitions

This section looks at sector definitions used in this release in more detail, and provides an overview of limitations.

There are limitations to the underlying classifications. As the balance and make-up of the economy changes, the SIC codes, most recently finalised in 2007, become less able to provide the detail for important elements of the UK economy related to DCMS sectors. Emerging sectors, such as Artificial Intelligence, are therefore hard to capture and may be excluded or mis-coded. The SIC codes used to produce these estimates are a ‘best fit’, subject to the limitations described in the following section.

Civil society

Estimates of the number of businesses in the civil society sector are not available in this release. This is because civil society organisations are not identifiable in the relevant ONS datasets and therefore Research and Development (R&D) expenditure estimates cannot be produced on the same basis.

Creative industries

The creative industries were defined in the government’s 2001 Creative Industries Mapping Document as “those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property”.

To allow the creative industries to be measured, DCMS worked with others to develop a statistical definition of the creative industries which reflects this definition. DCMS uses a “creative intensity” metric to determine which industries (at 4 digit SIC) are creative. The creative intensity is the proportion of occupations in an industry that are creative and, if the intensity is above a set threshold, that industry is typically defined as creative. More information can be found in the 2016 methodology document.

The definition used for the creative industries in this release does not allow consideration of the value added of “creative” to the wider economy, such as Creative Occupations outside the creative industries. DCMS policy responsibility is for creative industries across the economy and therefore this is a significant weakness in the current approach.

Cultural sector

There are significant limitations to the DCMS measurement of the cultural sector arising from the lack of detailed disaggregation possible using the standard industrial classifications. There are many cases where culture forms a small part of an industry classification and therefore cannot be separately identified and assigned as culture using standard data sources. DCMS consulted on the definition of Culture and published a response in April 2017.

It is recognised that, due to the limitations associated with SIC codes, the SIC code used in past publications as a proxy for the heritage sector (91.03 - operation of historical sites and building and similar visitor attractions) is likely to be an underestimate of this sector’s value. We have changed the name of the heritage sector to ‘operation for historical sites and similar visitor attractions’ to reflect this.

Sport

For the purpose of this publication the statistical definition of sport has been used. This incorporates only those 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes which are predominantly sport (see the definitions table published alongside the methodology note).

DCMS has also published estimates of sport based on the EU agreed Vilnius definition. The Vilnius definition is a more comprehensive measure of sport which considers the contribution of sport across a range of industries, for example sport advertising, and sport related construction. 

Tourism

The definition of tourism in this release differs to that used in most DCMS sector economic estimates releases, and results should not be directly compared. In this release we therefore refer to the tourism industries rather than the tourism sector.

In the majority of the DCMS economic estimates publications the estimates of tourism are based on results from the tourism satellite account, which estimates the direct economic impact of tourism (or tourists) on the economy as a proportion of each standard industrial class. The tourism satellite account does not provide estimates of R&D expenditure by businesses in the tourism sector.. The figures in this release are therefore based on a “tourism industries” approach, which counts any establishment in an industry (SIC code) for which the principal activity is a tourism characteristic activity, i.e. it includes 100% of the businesses in a subset of the standard industrial classes.

As such, the estimates for the tourism industries in this release are larger than they might otherwise have been under a satellite account approach and therefore account for a greater proportion of the DCMS Sector total than in other economic estimates publications.

3. Methodology

This chapter summarises the methodology used to produce research and development expenditure by businesses in DCMS sectors.

3.1 Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Survey

The Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Survey is an annual survey which measures expenditure on research and development (R&D) by UK businesses. The survey uses the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) definition set out in the Frascati Manual 2015, where R&D is defined as “creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge”. R&D must contain an appreciable amount of novelty.

In 2022, the BERD Survey incorporated a new sample design which saw the sample size increase from approximately 5,400 UK businesses to approximately 38,500. This new design better reflects the level of R&D performance across the UK business sector. Further information about the introduction of the new sample design and new methods for calculating R&D results is available in the ONS Update on transformation of research and development statistics: November 2023 article. As a result of these changes, all estimates for 2022, other than the UK total, are not directly comparable with previous years. 

R&D by businesses in Northern Ireland is measured in a separate survey conducted by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA); the results from this are aggregated with those collected from the survey of businesses in Great Britain to form UK estimates. 

R&D can be measured by the expenditure on R&D performed by a business, or by the funding received by a business for R&D work. These are often, but not always, the same. Performance is regarded as a more accurate measure than funding received, as not all funds received may be used as intended. This release reports on R&D expenditure in UK businesses, irrespective of the country of residence of the ultimate owner or users of the R&D produced.

Industrial classifications of businesses in this release come from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), which classifies businesses based on the principal activity performed by the business. Returns from the BERD survey are weighted to represent the wider population of non-sampled businesses for BERD on the IDBR. 

We have used microdata from the BERD survey to produce estimates of R&D expenditure by businesses in DCMS sectors, in line with ONS methodology wherever possible. Statistical disclosure control methodology is applied to the dataset before release. This is to make sure that information attributable to an individual business is not identifiable in any published outputs.

3.2 Summary of data sources

In summary, the data presented in this report on research and development expenditure by businesses

• are based on official statistics data sources
• are based on internationally-harmonised codes
• have been calculated to follow the ONS methodology as closely as possible
• are based on survey data and, as with all data from surveys, there will be an associated error margin surrounding these estimates

4. Quality assurance processes

This chapter summarises the quality assurance processes applied during the production of the DCMS sectors Economic Estimates: Research and Development (R&D), 2022 statistics. This includes a detailed account of the quality assurance processes and the data checks carried out by our data providers (Office for National Statistics, ONS) as well as by DCMS.

4.1 Quality assurance processes at ONS

Quality assurance at ONS takes place at a number of stages, outlined below. The information presented here is taken from the Business Enterprise Research and Development Survey QMI report and should be credited to the ONS.

BERD uses electronic questionnaires and survey responses are validated at the point of entry, with potential anomalies checked with the respondent. This helps improve the quality of the data reported.

Statistical disclosure control methodology is applied to BERD data. This is to make sure that information attributable to an individual business is not identifiable in any published outputs. More information can be found on the ONS Disclosure control web pages.

Further quality assurance includes:

• the detection and treatment of outliers
• application of imputation for missing values
• expansion estimation to account for non-sampled businesses. This method uses a weight which is applied to survey returns to estimate for the non-sampled businesses, non-responders or those businesses that provided invalid returns.

4.2 Quality assurance processes at DCMS

The majority of quality assurance of the data underpinning this release takes place at ONS, through the processes described above. However, further quality assurance checks are then carried out within DCMS. Production of the analysis is typically carried out by one member of staff, whilst quality assurance is completed by at least one other, to ensure an independent evaluation of the work.

Data requirements and data delivery

For the BERD data, DCMS discussed our data requirements with the ONS and these are formalised as a Data Access Agreement (DAA). The DAA covers which data are required, the purpose of the data, and the conditions under which ONS provide the data. Discussions of requirements and purpose with ONS improved the understanding of the data at DCMS, helping us to ensure we receive the correct data and use it appropriately. 

DCMS checks that the data delivered by ONS match what is listed in the DAA. For this particular release we check that:

• We have received all data at the 4 digit SIC code level, which is required for us to aggregate up to produce estimates for our sectors and sub-sectors. 
• Data at the 4 digit SIC code has not been rounded unexpectedly. This would cause rounding errors when aggregating up to produce estimates for our sectors and subsectors.

Data analysis quality assurance checks

At the analysis stage, data are aggregated to produce information about DCMS sectors and sub-sectors. The R&D statistics lead checks whether:

• there is any missing data 
• the correct data have been used for the analysis e.g. has the 2022 data been used to derive the 2022 figures for DCMS sectors, or has the 2021 data been used by mistake?
• the correct SIC codes have been aggregated together to form DCMS sector and sub-sector estimates. Are all SIC codes we require included? Are there any non-DCMS SIC codes that have been included by accident?
• Whether disaggregations sum to the overall total e.g. do sub-sectors within the creative industries sum to the creative industries total? 
• checking it is not possible to derive disclosive data from the figures that will be published

A statistics colleague not involved in the coding and analysis checks whether:

• any new code or changes to code used in the calculations (in this case using the statistical software r) makes sense and produces the expected results
• the correct input data is used (incorporating any revisions, latest available data)
• further calculations and analysis are correct.

Publication quality assurance checks

Finalised figures are disseminated within OpenDocument Format tables and published on GOV.UK. These are produced by the R&D lead. Before publishing, a quality assurer checks the data tables as well as the report to ensure minimal errors. This is checked against a QA log where comments can be fed back and actioned accordingly. The quality assurer also makes sure any statements made about the figures (e.g. regarding trends) are correct according to the analysis and checks for spelling or grammatical errors.

Proofreading and publication checks are done at the final stage, including:

• checking the figures in the publication match the published tables
• checking the footnote numbering is correct
• making sure hyperlinks work
• checking chart/table numbers are in the correct order
• ensuring the publication is signed off by DCMS Head of Profession for Statistics 
• contacting press office to ensure they are aware of the release date
• checking the published GOV.UK page again after publishing

Post publication

Once the publication is released, DCMS reviews the processes and procedures followed via a wash up meeting. This occurs usually a week after the publication release date and discusses:

• what went well and what issues were encountered
• what improvements can be made for next time
• what feedback have we received from engaging with users

5. External data sources

It is recognised that there were always different ways to define sectors, but their relevance depends on what they are needed for. Government generally favours classification systems which are:

• rigorously measured,
• internationally comparable,
• nationally consistent, and
• ideally applicable to specific policy interventions.

These are the main reasons for DCMS using SIC code based definitions for its sectors. However DCMS accept that there are limitations with this approach, and alternative definitions can be useful where a policy-relevant grouping of businesses crosses existing Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.

6. Further information

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

For enquiries on this release, please email evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

For general enquiries contact:

Department for Culture, Media and sport
100 Parliament Street London
SW1A 2BQ

Telephone: 020 7211 6000 

DCMS statisticians can be followed on X via @DCMSInsight.