Written question asked by John Healey (Labour) on Thursday, 20 October 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 October 2022. It was answered by James Heappey (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 October 2022 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.
Telecommunications Cables: Seas and Oceans
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has detected hostile involvement in the damaging of undersea cables between UK territories since 2019.
- Answer
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Detailing our assessments as to hostile involvement in the damaging of undersea cables would be likely to prejudice the purpose of safeguarding their security and consequently national security. Subsea internet cables are specifically considered in the National Risk Assessment which is kept under review.
The most likely cause of damage to subsea cables is by fishing, particularly trawling and other seabed-disturbing activities. The recent incident in the Shetlands has shown that accidental breakage of communications cables is not unknown and mechanisms to repair them are well tested.
Responsibility for subsea power and telecommunications cables lies with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, respectively.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 67862
- Session
- 2022-23
- Subjects
- Terrorism Seas and oceans Telecommunications cables
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2022-10-26 17:39:12 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2022-23/67862
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- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2022-23/67862
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2022-23/67862