Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last undertook a review of critical infrastructure, including electricity substations and their resilience to the threat of flooding; and how frequently such reviews are undertaken.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) in the UK, including the energy sector, is subject to thorough scrutiny and sectors need to satisfy stringent sectoral regulatory and national security requirements. Sector Security and Resilience Plans (SSRPs) are produced annually by the 13 CNI sectors, this assurance process asks Lead Government Departments to detail the activity ongoing in their sectors to improve security and resilience to a host of risks, including those from the National Security Risk Assessment such as flooding. For the energy sector specifically, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) independently oversees and enforces the UK’s energy regulatory regime.
A large portion of the UK’s CNI is in private sector hands, and the Government works continuously with CNI owners and operators to support and ensure the security and resilience of their sites and systems. This approach ensures sectors prepare for a range of both malicious risks (threats) and non-malicious risks (hazards), including that of flooding.
The Environment Agency is working with national infrastructure providers and government departments to improve planning for current and future flood risks. This work forms one of the main themes within the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of cyber attacks there have been in each of the last three years on UK companies by a hostile state; and what is their policy to prevent such attacks.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Our new National Cyber Strategy, launched in December 2021, sets out how we will ensure that the UK continues to be a leading, responsible and democratic cyber power, able to protect and promote our interests in the rapidly evolving online world. This includes our approach to making the UK more resilient to cyber attacks and countering cyber threats. It is supported by £2.6 billion of investment over three years.
Over the past three years, the National Cyber Security Centre has dealt with a total of 2158 significant cyber incidents affecting people and organisations across the UK: 658 in 2019, 723 in 2020 and 777 in 2021. The 2021 Cyber Security Breaches Survey shows that 39% of businesses identified a cyber attack in the last 12 months, 46% in 2020 and 32% in 2019. We are not in a position to be able to identify all cyber attacks against UK companies or attribute responsibility for every attack.
The UK will do what is necessary to protect ourselves through our world leading capability in this area. We are vigilant to cyber threats, wherever they come from, and ready to defend against them. We are continuing to work to make the UK more resilient to cyber threats and raise the cost for those who would do us harm.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to apply the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland; and what assessment they have made of the implications of this application for the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Answered by Lord Frost
The Government has invested substantial funding to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol in line with our current obligations and to support businesses adjusting to this change, including through the Trader Support Service and the Movement Assistance Scheme (MAS). We have already spent over £150m on these services. The forecast spend for the Trader Support Service is for £360m over the full two years to the end of 2022 and the forecast for MAS is that total spend could run to up to £150m.
The Northern Ireland Protocol is not part of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). Nevertheless, there have been suggestions that the EU would take retaliatory actions under the TCA should the UK invoke the Article 16 safeguards. This would aggravate the problems in Northern Ireland rather than reduce them. Article 16 is a legitimate safeguard within the Protocol and we would urge the European Commission to consider the impact of such disproportionate actions.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made on the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and the commitments it contains.
Answered by Lord Frost
The Government’s policy has been for the Protocol to be operated in a pragmatic and proportionate way, protecting the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its dimension and minimising its impact on everyday lives in Northern Ireland.
In doing so, the Government has developed significant measures to support businesses, such as the Trader Support Service, Movement Assistance Scheme and UK Trader Scheme.
Nevertheless, there have been significant difficulties in the Protocol’s operation, and solutions must be found rapidly. We are working through the structures of the Withdrawal Agreement to find pragmatic ways forward in a range of problem areas. We look to the EU to show a common sense, risk-based, approach.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) technology failures, (2) issues with the infrastructure at ports of exit from Great Britain, and (3) the number of veterinarians available, on the timeliness of goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As outlined in my answer on 14 January, the UK will continue to work with supermarkets and retailers. We have a dedicated group of officials working on this. We are seeking new end-to-end digital systems that will enable goods to be moved in accordance with the protocol in the most streamlined way, and this will be backed by a major injection of UK government funding as part of a broader support package.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria are used to determine key workers; and what plans they have to add cleaners to the published list.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The position remains, as outlined on gov.uk, that everyone who can work from home should do so.
Where that is not possible, people should go into work where it is safe and they are not symptomatic, isolating or shielding. Relevant guidance including from PHE should be followed.
In terms of the provision of education for certain workers, it is already the case that cleaners working in, for example, hospitals and social care could be eligible as long as "their specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service". This is set out on gov.uk.
The Government has placed restrictions on the operations of certain businesses as part of the strategy of enhanced social distancing. Separate guidance has been published on this and is also available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of workless households in the UK in the light of the latest employment figures.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress he has made on civil contingencies planning.
Answered by Oliver Letwin
The Civil Contingencies Act places the primary responsibility for emergency planning on local responders working together. This activity at local level is constantly developing in the light of testing and exercising and actual events. It is supported at the national level by a range of activities including the production of the National Risk Assessment (NRA), a classified biennial assessment that identifies and prioritises the most significant emergencies the UK could face over the next five years, with the 2014 NRA having recently been made available to local responders; the cross-government National Resilience Capability Programme supported by the 2014 National Capability Survey, a voluntary biennial survey of local responders which provides data to government and enables self-improvement activity at the local tier; and the doctrine and training provided by the Emergency Planning College. In addition, the government’s annual review of UK resilience continues to consider the local, regional, and national level issues that pose the greatest risks to the UK.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many long-term unemployed people claim jobseeker's allowance in Thirsk and Malton constituency; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of recent trends in rural crime; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.