Growth in the UK economy was 0.8% in the first quarter of 2014, the Office for National Statistics has reported this morning.
The Index of Services increased by 3.1% in April 2014 compared with April 2013.
All of the four main components of the services industries increased in the most recent month compared with the same month a year ago.
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The ONS summary was as follows:

• The largest contributions came from: business services & finance, which contributed 1.7 percentage points to total growth; and distribution, hotels & restaurants, which contributed 0.9 percentage points to total growth.
• The latest Index of Services estimates show that output increased by 0.3% between March 2014 and April 2014, following an increase of 0.5% between February 2014 and March 2014.
• The Index of Services increased by 0.8% in Q1 2014 compared with Q4 2013. This figure has been revised down 0.1% from that included in the Second Estimate of Gross Domestic Product and is consistent with the estimate used in the Quarterly National Accounts published today.

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