Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to strengthen the UK's cybersecurity capabilities; and how they plan to address emerging threats such as cyber espionage.

The Government is investing £2.6 billion in the National Cyber Strategy to protect and promote the UK online and improve our national cyber security capabilities. This includes work to increase the number of skilled cyber security professionals and programmes to help UK cyber security businesses grow, develop and innovate. Our regional cyber growth programme is supporting the cyber security sector in all regions and nations of the UK, and includes support for the Belfast cyber security cluster and an £18.9 million investment in Northern Ireland’s cyber security and AI ecosystem. We are also investing to improve cyber security capability in government, law enforcement and across government and agencies.

Countering new and existing threats is a key pillar of the National Cyber Strategy. This work ranges from detecting, disrupting and deterring our cyber adversaries, through to improving cyber resilience in critical national infrastructure and organisations across the economy. Improvements in cyber resilience helps defend against espionage, as well as the widespread threat from cyber criminals and other malicious actors.