Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how will industry investment play a role in the development of autonomous offensive and defensive cyber tooling for the purpose of (a) national security and (b) defence.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Investing in cyber security is critical to all sectors of the UK economy, enabling long-term, secure and resilient growth. The UK is an attractive destination for cyber investors, owing to its collaborative environment, access to talent and skills, world-class research, and support to innovation. The Government partners closely with industry to secure the UK in cyberspace.
In particular, the National Cyber Force delivers the UK’s national cyber effects capability. It works in partnership with industry and academia to achieve this, for example through the Lancashire Cyber Partnership, a strategic collaboration to facilitate and boost cyber-led economic growth across digital industries, technology supply chains, and broader disciplines. This is just one regional example of many where we encourage investment in the UK’s cyber sector.
The National Cyber Security Centre is also working with industry to better understand and mitigate the risks from increased use of Artificial Intelligence by cyber threat actors, including those targeting national security and defence.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what priorities on what timelines he has issued to the National Resilience Academy.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK Resilience Academy (UKRA) will be established in April 2025 to ensure that all those who work on resilience have the capability, knowledge and skills they need to play their part in making resilience a ‘whole of society’ endeavour.
In his statement to the House of Commons on 19 July 2024, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster confirmed that the UK Resilience Academy is being established to increase and improve the training of ministers, MPs, civil servants and all those in civil society who respond to crises.
In the same statement, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster also committed to undertaking a review of long-term resilience. The review seeks to identify what should be kept, changed or improved from previous resilience commitments, to ensure we are best prepared now and into the future. Evidence from the review will inform decisions on future priorities for the UKRA.