Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of requiring technology companies to build backdoors into encrypted systems on public (a) safety and (b) privacy.

The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

The suggestion that cybersecurity and access to data by law enforcement are at odds is false. The Investigatory Powers Act contains robust safeguards and independent oversight to protect privacy and ensure that data is only obtained on an exceptional basis and only when it is necessary and proportionate to do so.

It is entirely possible to have robust cyber security measures that guard against access to data by malicious actors whilst also ensuring data can be disclosed in response to specific authorised requests.

Home Office Ministers and senior officials regularly meet with key stakeholders, including technology companies, on a range of policies and issues.

Details of ministerial meetings are published on a quarterly basis on gov.uk.