Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish an updated transparency report on decisions made under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

Transparency is a crucial part of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act, whilst also balancing commercial and reputational considerations.

Information related to publication of final orders is available on GOV.UK. The Government also publishes annual reports to provide information about the transactions that it has been notified about and those it subsequently called in for a national security assessment. The NSI Annual Report 2023-24 was published on 10 September 2024. The period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 will be covered in next year’s annual report.

The annual reports include the proportion of notifications for each sector, however, cybersecurity falls under the artificial intelligence sector and is not reported separately.

The reports do not specifically include the number or proportion of transactions that relate to links to a company owned in (a) part or (b) whole by a foreign state, however, they include the number of accepted notifications, call-in notices issued, final notifications issued, withdrawals from a called in acquisition and final orders issued by origin of investment.