Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when her Department last conducted a risk assessment of the ability of data centres designated as Critical National Infrastructure to continue operating during a sustained cyberattack.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Government keeps risks to Critical National Infrastructure, of which data centres are a part, under continuous review through the National Risk Register process and extensive engagement with industry. As the department responsible for data infrastructure, DSIT also conducts rolling assessments of the risk of a cyber-attack to data centres. This is supplemented by DSIT’s ongoing engagement with the sector to continuously test the capabilities of data centres against known threats, including cyber attacks. DSIT’s assessments consider the potential disruption, compromise or denial of essential services resulting from a successful cyber attack on data infrastructure, and inform national resilience planning assumptions.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has set a target for research and development expenditure in 2030.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Departmental budgets are currently set up to the end of financial year 2025/26. The government is currently in the middle of a Spending Review, which will set out the government’s spending plans for R&D through to 2029/30. This will conclude in June 2025.
At the Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor confirmed that total HMG investment in R&D is rising to a record allocation of £20.4bn in 2025/26. As part of this, DSIT's R&D budget is rising to £13.9bn for the 2025/26 financial year.