Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat McFadden and Bob Blackman

Thursday 6th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T6. We have already heard about the cyber-attacks on public bodies across this country. Will the Cabinet Office ensure that full guidelines are given to every Government Department about the procurement of software and the need for security software to be kept up to date? The people who attack us are rapidly improving their capability, and we must be on top of it.

[Pat McFadden]

The hon. Member is absolutely right: the people who are attacking us are trying constantly to probe our defences, and as I have said a few times in the past hour, this is therefore a constant challenge. It is a combination of hardware, software and good practice, and that applies to central Government, local government, public bodies and�crucially�businesses. It is a national effort to protect the business that we do and the processes that we take for granted every day.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat McFadden and Bob Blackman

Thursday 24th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

The provision of blue-light escorts is clearly a matter of operational policing, but last week my colleagues on the London Assembly wrote to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster asking for an inquiry into the provision of tickets to politicians, including the Labour Mayor of London, and the pressure that was then applied to the Metropolitan police to provide an escort to Taylor Swift. Will the right hon. Gentleman conduct a review so that we can see what happened and ensure that, if mistakes were made, they are rectified and this does not happen again?

[Pat McFadden]

These are operational decisions for the police, but I am glad that the person who is currently the biggest pop star in the world was able to play in London, particularly following the threat of a terrorist attack at her previous concerts in Austria. I am glad that the show went on.