Speeches by Edwards.

“You alluded earlier to the Government’s commitment to establish an ethics and integrity commission and maybe that you are not entirely convinced by that approach. I wonder if you could expand on that, and particularly where you see ACoBA sitting within the framework that the new Government are pursuing.”

“I have been contacted by constituents who are concerned by media comments over the last week that suggest that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill may render sites of special scientific interest protections meaningless. Will the Secretary of State clarify the Bill’s position on this and outline what protections there …”

“I welcome today’s Second Reading of the Bill. I would like to focus on one aspect of the legislation: the removal of autism and learning disability from the definition of mental disorder under section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983. I recently visited a wonderful local charity, the Challenging Behaviour Foundation. It…”

“A recent Public Accounts Committee inquiry found that the Government still have substantial gaps in their understanding of how resilient their IT estate is to cyber-attack. It was really helpful to hear from the Minister about the work that is ongoing, but in the light of this very serious incident, will she and all De…”

“T9. Next week I will be visiting the site of a proposed project in my constituency that will create the only new interconnector between Great Britain and France, which can be built and operational by 2030, to help deliver the Government’s clean power mission. Ahead of the proposed UK-France summit this summer, will the…”

“Q12. The previous Government failed to properly support further and adult education over the past 14 years. In contrast, the Prime Minister’s personal commitment to technical qualifications has been encouraging. Last year’s Budget provided a welcome boost to some parts of the sector, but need and demand are outstrippin…”

“The invest in women taskforce aims to drive investment in female-powered businesses at every stage. That includes putting more money in the hands of female investors, as we know that women back women. Does the Minister agree that one solution to tackling the gender disparity in investment decision-making roles is to se…”

“That is helpful. It sounds like the outcomes of those tests are then shared throughout Whitehall, so that lessons can be learned. Is that the case?”

“Thank you very much for coming here today. Paragraph 4.9 of the NAO Report raises concerns about Departments being reluctant to share information about their cyber incidents with other parts of Government. A common theme I am discovering with Whitehall is that GDPR is almost used as a “Computer says no” response. Obvio…”

“That pre-empts one of my questions: what practical structures do you have in place to disseminate that kind of information? The information about the co-ordination centre is helpful. How do you ensure that information is disseminated not just to permanent secretaries, but throughout the Departments?”

“Cat, earlier you discussed the need for culture change, which I agree with. How are you trying to embed a culture, not just within the Cabinet Office but throughout Whitehall, where people are encouraged to come forward and learn from near misses, rather than seeing mistakes or breaches of cyber policy as part of a bla…”

“That is really helpful, particularly to have that leadership right from the top within the Cabinet Office. Do you think that has permeated through all the other Departments across Whitehall?”

“My question follows on from that last discussion. Obviously, the legacy systems are quite an important gap. How are you managing supply chain risk across Whitehall? That would seem to be another vulnerability.”

“That is really comforting. Is it the case, then, that all tendering or procurement requires a robust cyber defence from the supply chain partner?”

“Going back to the NAO Report, paragraph 2.12 talks about the Government Security Group and Departments lacking the time and resources to improve cyber-resilience outcomes following the conclusion of the first year of GovAssure, in July last year. It mentions that in November last year, “GSG had not commissioned progres…”

“Would you say you are confident that they will be implemented at this admittedly early stage?”

“So they are resource-contingent—thank you; that is helpful. One of the gaps for me was CBEST testing, which I know a bit about from my time at the Bank of England doing cyber-penetration testing with some of the very large financial companies that operate in the UK. It is a gold-standard system that allows companies to…”

“Thank you very much, Chair. A question has come to me while we have been discussing this. There is obviously quite a big debate about work from home and the civil service. How do you ensure that when people are working from home, the cyber defences remain robust? How do you avoid having thousands of civil servants acro…”

“Thank you. Would you say that every civil servant has been given guidance about how to manage cyber risks when they are working from home?”

“I do not support the amendment but will speak in favour of the Bill. As many have highlighted, there is a gap between the skills needed by employers and the skills held by the UK workforce. Skills shortage vacancies have been on the rise year after year, and the latest data shows that a third of all vacancies are due t…”