Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of engagement with civil society organisations in the formulation of the National Security Strategy.

During the development of the National Security Strategy, the Cabinet Office engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders, considered assessments and analytical products from think tanks, academics, industry experts and reports from the Intelligence and Security Committee and the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy.

It also brought together several strategies, reviews, and audits developed and being developed by the government. These reviews had their own method of engagement, including with civil society organisations and industry. This includes the Resilience Action Plan which a large number of stakeholders, including civil society organisations, were engaged with to support development and delivery.

To support the delivery of national security objectives, the government regularly engages with industry including the technology industry. For example, this week the Security Minister was in Glasgow at the 10th annual Cyber UK conference, attended by 2,500 cyber security leaders and technical professionals.

Our Modern Industrial Strategy is a 10-year plan backing our strengths and realising Britain’s potential. This strategy is an ongoing partnership between business, government, and workers, meeting the needs of business head on. This government has also published its Defence Industrial Strategy, which lays out our new approach, not just to defence procurement, but also how we engage with industry throughout the supply chain. The upcoming Defence Readiness Bill will improve how we work collectively with industry to improve the readiness of our defence sector.