Business Enterprise Research and Development Expenditure
Expenditure and employment on research and development by businesses in Scotland.
Data
Business Enterprise Research and Development Expenditure
Description
The data in this series are sourced from the Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
We have put a pause on the updating of this series until more work can be carried out to quality assure the underlying source data.
Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) is measured by the expenditure on R&D carried out by the business. This is regarded as a more accurate measure of R&D than the funding received by a business for R&D work, as not all of these funds received may be used for R&D. This publication reports on R&D expenditure in businesses in Scotland irrespective of the country of residence of the ultimate owner or users of the R&D produced.
The BERD survey follows the definition of research and development proposed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and published in the 'Frascati' Manual. According to the manual, 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.
Scotland's Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) is taken from the annual Scottish Government (SG) BERD publication. The data in this release are sourced from the Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been leading a redevelopment project for R&D statistics. The first phase of the project concluded with the publication of the latest ONS BERD estimates, which reflect significant methodological changes. There is currently uncertainty over the robustness of the detailed breakdowns of the new BERD estimates, which includes the data for Scotland. The ONS have put a temporary pause on the National Statistics status of the detailed breakdowns of BERD until the second stage of the redevelopment project completes in 2023. The National Statistics status of the Scottish Government BERD publication has similarly been put on pause.
More detailed information can be found in our BERD Scotland 2021 publication and in the ONS BERD UK 2021 publication.
Metadata
| Theme | Business, Enterprise and Energy |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Scottish Government |
| License | UK Open Government Licence (OGL) |
| Published | |
| Last updated | |
| Update frequency | annual |
| Reference period | 2001 to 2020 |
| Geographic coverage | Council Areas, Country |
| Contact | industrystatistics@gov.scot |
Data quality
Completeness
Information on data sources, suitability and uses can be found here.
Uniqueness
Not assessed
Consistency
Data can be used to look at trends over time. For comparisons with other UK regions, please see the BERD Scotland 2021 publication, or visit the Office for National Statistics website.
Timeliness
This dataset is normally updated annually, however we have put a pause on the updating of this series until more work can be carried out to quality assure the underlying source data.
Validity
BERD includes business enterprise R&D performed in Scotland irrespective of the residence of the ultimate owner. BERD excludes R&D funded by Scottish businesses that is performed overseas. BERD excludes R&D carried out by higher education or government (including government departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies; local authorities; and private non-profit organisations). Public corporations are counted as business enterprises.
Further information on data sources, suitability and uses can be found in the ONS BERD 2021 publication. Information on BERD survey and methodology can be found here.
Accuracy
Scotland's Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) is taken from the annual Scottish Government BERD publication. The data in this release are sourced from the Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been leading a redevelopment project for R&D statistics. The first phase of the project concluded with the publication of the latest ONS BERD estimates, which reflect significant methodological changes. There is currently uncertainty over the robustness of the detailed breakdowns of the new BERD estimates, which includes the data for Scotland.
The ONS have put a temporary pause on the National Statistics status of the detailed breakdowns of BERD until the second stage of the redevelopment project completes in 2023. The National Statistics status of the Scottish Government (SG) BERD publication has similarly been put on pause.
More detailed information can be found in our BERD Scotland 2021 publication and in the ONS BERD UK 2021 publication.
Quality management
Business Enterprise Research and Development is a National Statistics publication. It has been produced to the high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2021 .
Additional details
Revisions
Revisions and corrections to this publication are dealt with in accordance with the Scottish Governments published policy.
Confidentiality policy
Statistical disclosure control is applied to tables in order to maintain the confidentially of the data. Expenditure and employment values associated with business counts below a minimum threshold are withheld from publication. Additionally, a dominance rule identifies where a small number of businesses account for a majority of the associated expenditure or employment; these and any cells permitting disclosure by deduction are withheld from publication. Caution should therefore be exercised if summary data is calculated; data may be missing (as a result of disclosure control suppressions) in which case it will not be a true representation of product group or area totals.