Written question asked by Baroness Berger (Labour) on Thursday, 16 July 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 30 July 2026. It was answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Labour) on Wednesday, 29 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

Cybersecurity

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate the risk that computing capacity relied upon in the UK could be remotely disabled, restricted, or otherwise rendered unavailable by an entity based outside the UK.

Answer

HMG recognises the importance of compute to the UK’s digital economy and national security. HMG takes a balanced approach to cloud services, ensuring security and resilience while benefiting from global innovation. This is underpinned by UK security standards, data protection law and established commercial frameworks.

Domestically, HMG is accelerating UK data centre delivery through AI Growth Zones. The UK has a range of economic security tools to manage risk, including the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

HMG keeps risks under review, adapting its approach as needed, as is the case with the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: HL2177
Session: 2026-27
Grouped for answer: Yes
Subjects: Cybersecurity
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Cybersecurity

Secondary information

Librarians' tools