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Written question asked by Lord West of Spithead (Labour) on Tuesday, 11 October 2022, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 25 October 2022. It was answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 October 2022 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Offshore Structures: Protection

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan (HL2382), whether the Cabinet Office coordination of departmental actions takes place from an operations room in real time; and whether this functions 24 hours per day.

Answer

The Foreign Policy and National Security Secretariat (FPNSS) within the Cabinet Office works with responsible departments across Whitehall to coordinate policy on the resilience of subsea and offshore infrastructure. This policy coordination role compliments broader horizon scanning efforts within the department which aim to identify potential risks to infrastructure through early warning mechanisms or relevant intelligence.

Where crises impacting this infrastructure do materialise and could harm the UK’s national security, the Cabinet Office's National Security Watchkeepers, a team responsible for monitoring open source and government reporting tools on a 24/7 basis, alert the relevant teams within government.

Following any crisis notification, it is up to the relevant policy team in the FPNSS to work with the lead government department to assess the level of risk, identify any impacts and outline the appropriate next steps which HMG needs to take, including the activation of crisis machinery within the Cabinet Office where required.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL2510
Session
2022-23
Related items
Offshore Structures: Protection
Monday, 10 October 2022
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects
Protection Offshore structures Departmental coordination
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk