Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (a) his and (b) any other Department has identified any (i) state, (ii) state-linked and (iii) state-sponsored entity as (A) partially and (B) wholly responsible for the August 2025 to September 2025 cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government does not routinely comment on ongoing investigations or operational activity.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what specific items of expenditure have been counted towards the Government's claim to have met the NATO target of spending 1.5% of GDP on resilience-related investment.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The UK has met NATO’s 1.5% defence and security-related spending target, as defined by NATO. NATO’s definition sets out that spend should be to protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks, ensure our civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation and strengthen our defence industrial base.
Given this definition, contributions came from a number of departments. All spending captured as part of the 1.5% is determined through the Spending Review and set out to Parliament via the Estimates process in the usual way.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many cross-government resilience exercises involving two or more departments have been conducted in the last 2 years; and what the (a) title, (b) participating departments and (c) date was of each.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Cabinet Office encourages all departments to conduct or participate in exercises on cross-cutting risks in line with the National Security Risk Assessment.
The Cabinet Office conducted two cross-system exercises within this period under the National Exercising Programme. Exercise PEGASUS on pandemic preparedness was conducted in three primary phases in September and October 2025. A classified cross-system cyber resilience exercise was also conducted in 2026.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for (a) the Home Department and (b) Science, Innovation and Technology on the potential merits of updating the Computer Misuse Act 1990 to enhance national cyber resilience through strengthened legal protections for cybersecurity researchers.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Government recognises the significant role that UK cybersecurity professionals play in enhancing and protecting the country’s resilience against cyber threats; it is essential that we provide them with the necessary support. The Home Office is currently reviewing the Computer Misuse Act, and as part of this process, officials are considering the issue of strengthened legal protections for legitimate cybersecurity researchers. However, this work is complex and requires careful consideration. Without robust safeguards and oversight, the introduction of legal protections could significantly hinder law enforcement's ability to prosecute cyber criminality.
To address this, the Home Office is collaborating with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the National Cyber Security Centre, law enforcement agencies, and the cybersecurity industry to evaluate the safeguards that would need to accompany any implementation of strengthened legal protections. An update will be provided in due course.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how will industry investment play a role in the development of autonomous offensive and defensive cyber tooling for the purpose of (a) national security and (b) defence.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
Investing in cyber security is critical to all sectors of the UK economy, enabling long-term, secure and resilient growth. The UK is an attractive destination for cyber investors, owing to its collaborative environment, access to talent and skills, world-class research, and support to innovation. The Government partners closely with industry to secure the UK in cyberspace.
In particular, the National Cyber Force delivers the UK’s national cyber effects capability. It works in partnership with industry and academia to achieve this, for example through the Lancashire Cyber Partnership, a strategic collaboration to facilitate and boost cyber-led economic growth across digital industries, technology supply chains, and broader disciplines. This is just one regional example of many where we encourage investment in the UK’s cyber sector.
The National Cyber Security Centre is also working with industry to better understand and mitigate the risks from increased use of Artificial Intelligence by cyber threat actors, including those targeting national security and defence.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what priorities on what timelines he has issued to the National Resilience Academy.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The UK Resilience Academy (UKRA) will be established in April 2025 to ensure that all those who work on resilience have the capability, knowledge and skills they need to play their part in making resilience a ‘whole of society’ endeavour.
In his statement to the House of Commons on 19 July 2024, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster confirmed that the UK Resilience Academy is being established to increase and improve the training of ministers, MPs, civil servants and all those in civil society who respond to crises.
In the same statement, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster also committed to undertaking a review of long-term resilience. The review seeks to identify what should be kept, changed or improved from previous resilience commitments, to ensure we are best prepared now and into the future. Evidence from the review will inform decisions on future priorities for the UKRA.