Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps he has taken to promote Northern Ireland as a global cyber security hub as committed to in Annex A, Section 6 of the New Decade New Approach Deal.

The UK Government is committed to meeting its New Decade, New Approach pledge to have 5,000 cyber professionals working in Northern Ireland by 2030.

Northern Ireland already benefits from an exceptionally strong cyber talent pool, including through the Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research at Queen’s University, and as being positioned as the number one international investment location for US cyber security development projects.

The UK cyber sector is worth over £8 billion, and we have invested £1.5 billion in the creation of a UK-wide National Cyber Force. We are continuing to work with key cyber stakeholders in Northern Ireland to identify opportunities to encourage more research and development, and have identified cybersecurity as a sector to support via the Belfast and Derry City and Growth Deals. Moreover, we are looking to accelerate skills programmes and build the talent pipeline going forward so that Northern Ireland can continue to lead the way in cyber security.