Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will give my hon. Friend that commitment, because the visit I made to FARE Scotland some years ago had a huge impact, and I know that the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) was very much inspired by the same. FARE takes a very personal approach—a “names not numbers” approach—and I took that to our work in Greater Manchester on employment support. Exactly as I was saying to the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) just a moment ago, that should be the way that we approach supporting people in work across the country, as pioneered in my hon. Friend’s constituency by FARE Scotland.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Q4. I wish the Prime Minister well on a personal level—may God bless him in what he does. On Monday 19 October, a calculated cyber-campaign targeted our most vulnerable with a co-ordinated hoax email threatening that explosive devices had been sent to up to 300 schools across Northern Ireland, and hundreds more in Scotland. That vile communication explicitly referenced Islamic terror and “Allahu Akbar”. The intense panic, fear and distress inflicted on thousands of young children and their parents were entirely real. Will the Prime Minister please outline what specific measures our security forces and services are taking to trace the source of those digital threats, which police indicate originated from outside the United Kingdom? Furthermore, what active steps have the Government taken to protect our schools, harden our cyber-defences, and ensure that our children and grandchildren are kept safe from the looming threat of radicalised terrorism?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for his kind wishes at the start. I completely share the deep concern about that attack, and the distressing effect that it will have had on parents, teachers and children. Obviously, there is a live and serious police investigation. I cannot comment on that, but I can tell him that the National Cyber Security Centre is providing direct expert help to the schools affected. I can be categorical with him—and I will work with him on this—that those found to be responsible will face the full force of the law.