Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to pages 4 and 5 of the report entitled China: The top ten priorities for early Labour government action published by the Coalition on Secure Technology and the Council on Geostrategy China Observatory in September 2024, what steps he is taking to tackle the threat to UK national security posed by the use of Chinese-manufactured cellular Internet of Things modules.

The security of the UK is a top priority for the government. We are taking robust action to ensure new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the UK. The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act requires manufacturers, importers and retailers to ensure IoT products meet minimum security requirements. In telecoms specifically, we have been working to promote a more open, innovative, and diverse technology supply chain and to strengthen our legislative frameworks. The Government is taking a consistent, long term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. We will improve the UK’s capability to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities China poses through an audit of the UK’s relationship with China as a bilateral and global actor.