Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has a framework for evaluating cyber-security workforce shortages within the public sector.

DSIT has a number of different mechanisms for evaluating the public sector’s cyber workforce.

DSIT completes an annual Cyber Security Skills in the UK Labour Market Survey, which identifies key challenges facing the public sector’s cyber security workforce, including skills gaps.

Additionally, DSIT expects to publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter which will set out our approach to tackling cyber skills across Government. To develop this approach, DSIT considered a range of data sources, such as the cross government Security Profession Workforce Commission, the People Survey, the recent National Audit Office report on Government Cyber Resilience, and Civil Service Jobs databases to understand where we are facing cyber workforce shortages, why these shortages exist, and how best to tackle them.