Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on consumer security of prohibiting end-to-end encryption.

The Government supports the use of encryption. Encryption plays an important role in promoting cyber security, the prevention of cyber-crime, and protecting information online. Strong encryption - as practiced by many of the biggest names online - is central to the working of the internet.

But we must be clear that there is a balance to be struck. As those charged with keeping us all safe, the police and the security and intelligence agencies must have the tools they need to do their jobs. One of those tools is the ability to read, where it is both necessary and proportionate, the encrypted messages of those who plan and commit terrorist attacks and serious crimes.

We have well-established, constructive working relationships with a wide-range of groups with an interest in this area – including the major Communications Service Providers and business representatives – and we will continue to engage with them, along with other partners, to together find a solution that both permits law enforcement and the security and intelligence agencies to get the information they need, whilst also protecting privacy.