Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in the context of the Written Ministerial Statement made on 24 November 2022 by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster entitled Security Update on Surveillance Equipment, HCWS386, what assessment he has made of the potential security implications of the decision by the Defence and Security Accelerator to exhibit at the Safer Streets: Protect and Deter 2023 conference which will be partly funded by Hikvision, a company owned by the Chinese state.

Any events the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) attends or exhibits at are carefully planned for and assessed in order to mitigate security risks.

For this particular event, contact has been directly with the organisers of the event (the CCTV User Group) and limited solely to attendance at the event and administration for the stand. DASA has not shared any official documents or technology contacts with the organisers. DASA has robust plans in place to ensure that, at events such as these, no material or information is made available that is not already in the public domain.