Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities have been subject to ransomware attacks in the last 12 months; and how much has been spent on recovering public data from those attacks.

MHCLG have supported local authorities to respond to two ransomware incidents in the last 12 months. Historically, MHCLG has not collected data on local authority ransomware related expenditure but maintains a clear opposition to ransom payments. This government intends to introduce a targeted ban to prohibit public sector bodies and operators of critical national infrastructure, including local government, from paying ransom demands to criminals.

Since 2020, MHCLG has provided £23 million of cyber grant funding and technical support to local government. This includes support to deliver the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for local government, which sets a clear cyber security standard for the sector.

MHCLG will also be launching a local government Cyber Incident Response service to support English local authorities respond to successful ransomware attacks, helping to limit the impact these have on data and services.