Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) help improve recruitment to and (b) tackle a skills shortage in cybersecurity.

The Government has funded the creation of the new professional body for cyber, the UK Cyber Security Council, to establish coherent standards and pathways that will inform employer recruitment and an individual's career development. We are ensuring that every stage of the cyber skills supply chain is developed to meet the demands evidenced in the annual DCMS labour market survey. DCMS has delivered a range of youth programmes to develop future talent, including Cyber Discovery, reaching 115,000 interested young people from across the UK. For people already in the workforce, cyber skills bootcamps are offered through the National Skills Fund, and DCMS has also sought to highlight cyber career opportunities through the Cyber Launchpad programme.

The Government will publish planned activities to further tackle the skills shortage through the National Cyber Strategy shortly.