Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Minister of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (HC Deb col 121WH) where he stated that Genomics England “was suffering several hack attacks from BGI each week”, what steps they are taking, if any, against that company; and what steps they will take to scrutinise other Chinese genomic companies.

There is no recorded evidence of BGI attempting to hack Genomics England in 2014, and the Minister has amended the Hansard record accordingly. However, like most organisations they do receive regular attempts to access their systems, for which there are appropriate defences in place and no successful breaches have occurred.

Our current protocols allow Genomics England, UK Biobank and NIHR BioResource to consider national security in decision making about partnerships with companies overseas. These organisations have consulted with security personnel in the past to ensure partnerships are aligned with our national security interests.

As part of the new UK Biological Security Strategy, the Government is undertaking a full programme of work to assess how we can minimise the risks from biological data to protect our burgeoning bioeconomy, shape global norms and standards, without stifling innovation, and build confidence in sharing personal data to improve health outcomes in the UK and across the world.

We will conduct this work in conjunction with our partners at home, including Genomics England, the NHS and UK Biobank, and with our partners and allies around the world. The new UK Biological Security Strategy, to be published in the coming months, is part of the wider strategic direction of the Integrated Review, under which we are reviewing our policies on export controls and addressing potential vendors of concern across the economy.