Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of espionage have been identified in British universities since 2015, broken down by (a) year, and (b) nationality of identified suspects.

The National Security Act 2023 provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt state threats including new espionage offences. The Government is committed to transparency on the operation of these new powers and is considering a recommendation made by Jonathan Hall KC, in his first annual report as Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation, calling for publication of official statistics on use of state threat powers. The Government will respond formally to this recommendation in due course.

The Government supports the Higher Education sector in managing security risks through the Research Collaboration Advice Team, and the NPSA and NCSC’s Trusted Research and Secure Innovation guidance. The UK also has a comprehensive package of legislative and regulatory measures in place – including the Academic Technology Approvals Scheme, Export Controls and the National Security and Investment Act.