Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what basis they decided to allocate responsibility for parliamentary questions relating to cyber and national defence to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; and what assessment they have made of the response of foreign governments to the UK’s inclusion of such matters in a ministerial portfolio also including sport.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
DCMS is responsible for cyber security policy and works closely with other government departments responsible for delivery of the government’s National Cyber Security Strategy as well as the National Cyber Security Centre. The objectives of the National Cyber Security Strategy are divided between 5 departments. DCMS is responsible for cyber security policy, as it relates to securing the economy and society against attacks, building skills, expanding the sector, supporting innovation, science and technology. The Cabinet Office has overall responsibility for delivery of the National Cyber Security Strategy, sits on the National Security Council and is responsible for the security of government systems. The Home Office leads on cyber crime and incident response while the Ministry of Defence has overall responsibility for operational cyber capabilities. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has statutory responsibility for GCHQ and, thus, for the National Cyber Security Centre - the UK’s national technical authority for cyber security. Parliamentary questions are allocated to across departments on basis of this shared responsibility.
Internationally it is not unusual for foreign governments to divide responsibility for cyber security between departments responsible for the economy, security, defence and policing. DCMS has regular productive dialogues with many countries to advance UK interests and to share information and best practice. The inclusion of cyber in DCMS’ portfolios has never been raised as an issue for international partners.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 13 July (HL6593), whether they will publish their assessment that £200 million will be sufficient to fund a 5G Testbeds and Trials programme; what was the cost of the equivalent programme for 4G; whether they have assessed how much an equivalent programme for 6G will cost; and if so, whether they publish that assessment.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
While 6G mobile technology is only in the early research phase, the Government is committed to ensuring the UK is at the forefront of technology development and adoption. The Government’s current focus is on the UK becoming a world leader in 5G mobile technology. To support this ambition the Government is investing £200 million in a programme of nationally coordinated testbeds and trials, the first programme of its kind in the UK, which launched in late 2017 and will run until the end of March 2022
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has conducted economic and commercial analysis to ensure the scale of funding is proportionate to that of overall nationwide 5G deployment and provides value-for-money for UK taxpayers.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance, if any, they provide to members of the public about the security of Huawei products.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) provides a range of guidance to the public on how to secure their devices and accounts when using online services: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/information-for/individuals-families.
They generally do not produce guidance for members of the public on how to secure specific devices, but encourage that they read the information provided by the manufacturer.
In May 2019, in light of US sanctions against Huawei, the NCSC published advice for Huawei customers detailing the potential impact on customers in the UK. The NCSC updates its advice when necessary.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for withdrawing support for 5G telecoms networks in favour of further research into 6G technology.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
6G mobile technology is in the early research phase. The Government’s focus is on the UK becoming a world leader in 5G mobile technology, and for the majority of the UK population to have access to a 5G signal by 2027. To support this ambition, the Government is investing £200 million in a 5G Testbeds and Trials programme. The Mobile Network Operators are similarly focussed on rolling out commercial 5G coverage across the UK and, as a result, it is currently available in over 80 UK towns and cities.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to incentivise more innovative digital projects in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Industrial Strategy set out our commitment to becoming the world’s most innovative economy, ensuring the UK is the best place for researchers and innovators throughout Britain. We are already delivering record increases in public sector R&D investment — an extra £7bn committed by 2021/21 — with a target to reach 2.4% of GDP investment in R&D across the whole economy by 2027.
The government is supporting organisations that promote digital innovation. The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund is incentivising innovation, including in digital projects, by bringing together world-class UK research with business investment to develop new technologies. The Digital Catapult, an advanced digital technology innovation centre, receives funding to drive the early adoption of digital technologies to make UK businesses more competitive. It provides physical and digital facilities for experimentation and brings small companies, corporates, researchers and investors together through innovation programmes.
We are also helping innovative companies to access funding to expand and develop new projects. This includes the £2.5 billion British Patient Capital programme, delivered through the British Business Bank, which will support innovative UK companies to access the long-term investment they need to grow and expand worldwide.
The Industrial Strategy also supports the development of projects in specific sectors through Sector Deals: long term partnerships between industry and the government. These have included commitments to develop several digital projects to improve productivity in sectors ranging from Rail to Creative Industries to Tourism.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to use blockchain-based smart-contracts to ensure that small and medium sized enterprises are protected from late payment by larger companies in the supply chain.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Government recognises the impact late payments can have on businesses, particularly small and medium sized enterprises.
Blockchain technology is one solution of how this can be tackled.. For example, smart contracts can initiate payments based on digitally approved work or digitally tracked goods delivery. This enables businesses to be paid automatically, reducing the need for invoicing and preventing delays in payments. The technology ensures a high level of transparency for all parties involved, and helps prevent organisations from taking unilateral actions to alter original contracts.
The Government is supporting the development of blockchain technology in the UK and officials in the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport are exploring potential pilot projects with government departments. The Department for Business recently published the government response on the call for evidence to end late payments to small businesses. Many SMEs supply to government and, as one of the UK's largest corporate buyers, it is our responsibility to ensure suppliers are paid promptly and to examine where the use of technology can help with this.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to combat advances in digital technology to counter difficult-to-detect digital manipulations of audio or video recordings.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Government recognises the challenges and potential dangers of digitally manipulated content. We are considering these issues carefully as part of the Government’s plan to tackle wider forms of online manipulation and disinformation.
Our Online Harms White Paper sets out the actions we expect companies to take to limit the spread of disinformation on their platforms.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance and support they provide to businesses in relation to cyber security; and whether they intend to introduce systems for businesses to assess the adequacy of (1) their protection against cyber threats, and (2) their cyber security skills.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was created in 2016 as part of the Government's five-year, £1.9 billion National Cyber Security Strategy and provides guidance and support to businesses and public sector organisations on all matters relating to cyber security. This includes the Small Business Guide, a Response and Recovery guide, a toolkit for Boards and an "Exercise In a Box" to help organisations assess their cyber resilience. Through the Cyber Essentials Scheme, companies are already able to assess whether they have put in place security measures to protect themselves against the majority of untargeted cyber attacks.
We are undertaking a comprehensive review of the UK’s cyber regulatory and incentives landscape. This builds on our last review in 2016, to understand what has worked well, and where further action is needed to drive the necessary improvements in cyber security behaviours and practices. This will be done with acknowledgement of the broader asks being placed on business as we look to grow and secure the digital economy. It will include consideration of whether and how businesses should be required to assess the adequacy of their cyber security and whether they have the skills they need to manage cyber security risk.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the Waverley Criteria for export controls on objects of cultural interest.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Government has no such plans. The Waverley criteria continue to be the standard against which cultural objects, which are the subject of an export licence application, are judged to determine their national importance and whether an opportunity should be provided to retain them in the UK for the enjoyment of the public. The criteria continue to be held in high esteem.