Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether any sector-specific guidance will be drafted to support the implementation of the EU Network and Information Systems Directive.

The EU Network and Information Systems Directive (the ‘NIS Directive’) will help ensure Britain’s essential networks and infrastructure are safe, secure and resilient against the risk of future cyber attacks, helping to make the UK most secure place to live and do business online.

The Government’s plans to implement the NIS Directive were set out in a public consultation published on 8 August 2017. This set out that cross-sector security guidance will be published by the National Cyber Security Centre in January 2018, sector specific guidance by Competent Authorities (Regulators) in November 2018, and that compliance will be monitored and enforced by sector based Competent Authorities. The Government is reviewing the responses to this consultation and a formal Government reply will be published shortly.

The Government has kept the European Affairs Committees of both Houses regularly informed of progress on implementation of the EU Network and Information Systems Directive. Secondary legislation implementing the Directive will be laid before Parliament in due course.