Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) resilience and (b) reliability of cloud services, in the context of its plans to designate cloud services as Critical National Infrastructure.

The Government process for designating infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) requires an assessment of the sector’s resilience, and its reliability, in performing its essential function to society and the economy. This was assessed prior to the designation of cloud infrastructure as CNI in September 2024.

Cloud computing services have also been subject to the security requirements of the Network & Information Systems (NIS) Regulations since 2018 and are subject to ongoing oversight by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). This will be further strengthened by the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which will give the ICO additional regulatory powers for the sector.