Improving Cyber Resilience

Lord Bishop of St Albans Excerpts

Wednesday 21st May 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve the cyber resilience of UK businesses, organisations and government systems.

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent) (Lab)]

Did noble Lords miss me? The cyber threat to the UK is significant and growing; recent attacks on retailers and the Legal Aid Agency are just the latest examples of this. This Government are introducing the cyber security and resilience Bill to ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that UK citizens and businesses rely on are secure. We are also working tirelessly to improve the cyber resilience of government systems and are providing more support and services from the centre, such as the Government Cyber Coordination Centre, which brings together cyber defenders to share data and respond more effectively to cyber threats, vulnerabilities and incidents.

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

My Lords, the recent CYBERUK conference reported that the number of cyberattacks had doubled in the past year. This is costing tens—indeed, hundreds—of millions of pounds to businesses and is making people very nervous about their personal data. It is having a huge effect right across society. I welcome the fact that a new Bill is coming in, but we cannot wait for that. What is the National Cyber Security Centre doing now to review its strategies to proactively get businesses to sign up? Not many—a relatively small number—have signed up. Does it have sufficient staff to deal with this growing problem?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The right reverend Prelate makes a timely and important intervention, given recent events. Our online and offline worlds are merging, and there is no clear differential any more. This is a different frontier in that crime. This is an evolving and increasingly sophisticated threat, and we need to make sure that we are ahead of it. Candidly, as the NAO report earlier this year said, government cybersecurity practices are not yet where they need to be—but we are investing. Because of the report, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has been clear that we will bring forward a new cybersecurity strategy this year, and the NCSC is making sure that all resources are available. I urge all noble Lords to look at its website and specifically at what tools are available through the Cyber Essentials system. Companies that sign up for Cyber Essentials controls are 80% less likely to make a claim on cyber insurance than those without certification.