Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Defence

Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts
Monday 5th March 2018

(6 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Gavin Williamson Portrait Gavin Williamson
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Part of the reason why we set up the National Cyber Security Centre was to make sure that all elements of government are working together to tackle this issue. I will take up the hon. Lady’s point with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to highlight the threats and challenges that local government faces.

Philip Hollobone Portrait Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
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Young men and women traditionally joined Her Majesty’s armed forces, in large part, because of the physical challenge and the desire for combat experience. Should we not increasingly be recruiting young men and women because of their digital and IT proficiency, so that we can develop an elite cadre of cyber-specialists?

Gavin Williamson Portrait Gavin Williamson
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As we face new challenges, we have to be realistic that we need a whole different range of skills—not just the traditional skills that have been the backbone of our armed forces, but new skills—and we are looking at how we can best recruit those skills into our armed forces, and not just into the regulars but also into the reserves to boot.