Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help improve the cyber security resilience of fire and rescue services.

The government is committed to enhancing the UK’s resilience to threats, crises and emergencies.

Fire and Rescue Authorities are subject to the full set of civil protection duties under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), to plan and prepare for disruptive incidents. This includes cyber security, and my department regularly engages with the National Fire Chiefs Council’s (NFCC) Digital Data and Technology Team and relevant service Cyber Leads.

In addition, my department is working closely with all Fire and Rescue Services in England to support them to improve their cyber security and resilience. This includes:

• publication of a new Digital and Cyber Fire Standard, published in September 2024;
• understanding the landscape through FRS completion of the Cyber Assessment Framework for relevant ICT Systems;
• strengthening Capability, in partnership with NFCC including development of training materials and sharing of best practice; and
• incident Planning and Exercising, through delivery of Cyber Tabletop Exercises to FRSs aimed at improving skills and preparedness for responding to cyber incidents.