Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that appropriate data standards for (a) the automotive sector and (b) other industries are in place to ensure security.

The Government published its new National Cyber Security Strategy on 1st November 2016. In it, the link between data security and our national prosperity was vividly highlighted.

The strategy makes it clear that Government is committed to building a secure Internet and sets out an objective for “the majority of online products and services coming into use [to] become ‘secure by default’ by 2021.”

In the case of connected and automated vehicles, Government believes they should be “secure by design”, both to ensure safety and the protection of data, which may include personal data. Government is working closely with industry and the relevant international bodies to achieve this as part of a much wider programme of activity to ensure public trust and acceptance of these technologies, which is vital to realising their significant potential benefits.