Angela Smith
Main Page: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)Department Debates - View all Angela Smith's debates with the Ministry of Defence
(9 years, 6 months ago)
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Penny Mordaunt
I agree with my hon. Friend. Following the 2010 strategic defence and security review, the Government put in place a national cyber-security programme backed by £860 million of Government investment up to 2016. It is for the current SDSR to decide where cyber sits in the overall prioritisation of security threats and responses. However, we have been clear that we will continue to invest in our cyber-defence capabilities, partly because, as he knows, it is a rapidly developing area and we need to keep up.
Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)
We all know that the French navy is being used to plug gaps in military operations in the Gulf, and that in that context the US military has taken to describing our country as “Great shrinking Britain”. Surely the Secretary of State is concerned about that view of this country. What is he going to do about it?
Michael Fallon
I must tell the hon. Lady that HMS Kent was recently part of the carrier screen around the Charles de Gaulle in the Gulf. We have worked with the French to help lift their troops into Mali, and the French in turn help us. That is part of the alliance—France, the United States, ourselves and the Norwegians work together on these threats.