Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to introduce tax incentives for businesses to upgrade their cyber security infrastructure.

The government is committed to strengthening cyber security across the UK. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) provides a range of tools, guidance and support to businesses to improve their cyber security. At last year's Spending Review, the government increased the Single Intelligence Account's budget by £1 billion over the Spending Review period, which funds the critical cybersecurity work conducted by NCSC.

The existing tax regime already provides relief for IT and digital expenditure. Day-to-day IT costs are deductible at 100% rate as revenue expenditure. Longer-term investments may qualify for capital allowances, including full expensing and the Annual Investment Allowance, which provide 100% relief over the costs in the year of expenditure, or the Intangibles Fixed Assets regime, which also provides 100% relief over time. The Government keeps all taxes under review.