Viscount Camrose

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper is clear that the people that create and work in businesses will be central to the success of the growth-driving sectors and clusters. The government has established Skills England to better understand current and future skills requirements and is developing proposals to ensure the skills system supports employers to develop a pipeline of skilled workers to meet their needs, including in technology and cybersecurity. This will also complement existing skills efforts led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, who oversee the current CyberFirst programme and the work of the UK Cyber Security Council.

Scale-up businesses are a critical part of the UK’s economy, driving innovation and economic growth. The work of the ScaleUp Institute and its partners in continuing to nurture the health of our scale-up ecosystems is as important as ever.

This Government will work closely with the Scaleup Institute and the private sector more broadly to create the right conditions for businesses to scale-up.

Ministers will support the work of the ScaleUp Institute though various mechanisms such as attendance at key events and engaging representatives from their organisation and membership as part of Government policy making.

The government takes data security very seriously and has taken appropriate action to mitigate hostile state actors providing or accessing the software services being used by the public sector. The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) requires public sector contracting authorities to mitigate any potential risk from hostile states by addressing national security risk in all procurements.

The Procurement Act 2023 introduces powers to exclude a supplier from a specific procurement, terminate a public contract with a supplier, or debar a supplier from all, or a range of, public contracts. Ministers may exercise this power should they deem there to be a threat to national security.

Contracting authorities should follow Government Security Group (GSG)’s guidance on Tackling Security Risk in Government Supply Chains, as well as supply chain guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and National Protective Security Authority (NPSA).

We are aware of media reports that Microsoft may have blocked the email account of Karim Khan, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), in compliance with US sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. It is our understanding that Microsoft has strongly denied this action, it would therefore be in appropriate for us to comment further at this point in time, other than to note that we constantly keep our commercial relationships under review.

Cyber criminals are attacking our public services and businesses with increased frequency, costing billions of pounds per year. The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will protect more digital businesses than ever, essential services that the public rely on and our national security. The government is committed to minimising additional costs to business and will set out a full assessment of this in an impact assessment, to be published upon introduction of the Bill.

My department is working across government, including working closely with departments who act as cyber sector regulators, to deliver the government’s commitment to reducing the gap in cyber skills. Our assessment of this is set out in the Cyber Security Skills in the UK Labour Market Survey. The priority skillset for the Bill will be the Audit and Assurance specialism, as defined by the UK Cyber Security Council. We have made strides in reducing the gap in these skills this year with a reported fall to 18%, down from 28% in 2023.

Cyber criminals are attacking our public services and businesses with increased frequency, costing billions of pounds per year. The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will protect more digital businesses than ever, essential services that the public rely on and our national security. The government is committed to minimising additional costs to business and will set out a full assessment of this in an impact assessment, to be published upon introduction of the Bill.

My department is working across government, including working closely with departments who act as cyber sector regulators, to deliver the government’s commitment to reducing the gap in cyber skills. Our assessment of this is set out in the Cyber Security Skills in the UK Labour Market Survey. The priority skillset for the Bill will be the Audit and Assurance specialism, as defined by the UK Cyber Security Council. We have made strides in reducing the gap in these skills this year with a reported fall to 18%, down from 28% in 2023.

The government is determined to develop the skilled workforce that the UK needs across the whole economy, including in space. That is why it is creating Skills England and will bring forward a comprehensive strategy for post-16 education to break down barriers to opportunity, support the development of a skilled workforce, and drive economic growth through our industrial strategy. Decisions about sector specific workforce action plans will be taken in due course.