Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 24 November 2022 on Security Update on Surveillance Equipment, HCWS386,whether any surveillance equipment produced by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China is connected to departmental core networks.

On 24 November 2022, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster published a Written Ministerial Statement noting that departments had been instructed to disconnect surveillance equipment from core departmental networks, where it had been produced by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of China. Government departments have been implementing this policy along with other protective security controls. It is a longstanding Government policy that specific security arrangements regarding Government estates are withheld on security grounds.