Jaguar Land Rover Cyberattack

Lord Bishop of Oxford Excerpts

Wednesday 10th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

My Lords, perhaps the noble Lord did not hear my last answer. Tackling cyberthreats and improving our national cyber defences is a priority for this Government. As I mentioned, when parliamentary time allows, the Government will introduce the cybersecurity and resilience Bill to raise cybersecurity standards in critical infrastructure and essential services such as water, energy and the NHS and, I am told, food security.

[The Lord Bishop of Oxford]

My Lords, on Monday the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence heard a striking presentation from the Polish Minister for defence and cybersecurity, who talked about the joined-up thinking his nation has developed on defence and commercial attacks of this kind. I ask the Minister what the Government are doing to join up thinking in defence and industry, in terms of cyber- attacks. In light of the Government’s promotion of artificial intelligence, do they consider that this increases the risk of cyberattacks of this kind? What steps are the Government taking to advocate responsible and cautious adoption of AI to mitigate this risk?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for that question. In 2024, the National Cyber Security Centre managed hundreds of incidents, 89 of which were nationally significant attacks. In 2025, the cybersecurity breaches survey shows that just less than half of businesses, about 43%, and around one-third of charities, about 30%, reported having experienced a cybersecurity breach or attack in the past 12 months. Cyberattacks do not happen just to big companies; they attack every company, all sizes and all types, and we have to be vigilant on that. The Government see the UK cybersecurity sector as a driving force in widening opportunities for our citizens. We have to ensure that this is protected. The Government have a plan and are working across departments putting a Bill together and we hope that parliamentary time will allow us to bring it forward.