The Government has set out its approach to cyber resilience the Government Cyber Security Strategy (GCSS). Cabinet Office are the lead department for the implementation of the GCSS, local government are responsible for the resilience of their networks and systems, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is assigned stewardship of local government, with responsibility for cyber policy and assurance.

Since 2020, DLUHC has provided £19.9 million of grant funding and technical support to 192 English local authorities to improve their cyber maturity. In collaboration with the Local Government Association and the National Cyber Security Centre, DLUHC have been raising the awareness of cyber risk and fostering cyber-first cultures and practices in local government.

To support councils to assess and improve their cyber security, DLUHC are introducing the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for the English local government sector later this year, providing a clear cyber security standard and method for local authorities to assess their cyber health.

On 20 November the Government announced that the third round of the Levelling Up Fund will invest £1 billion in 55 projects across the length and breadth of the country. The Golden Valley Cyber Centre is one such bid, receiving up to £20 million of Levelling Up Funding.

For the third and final round of the fund, projects were drawn from the list of robustly assessed bids submitted in round 2. The bid identified significant jobs and investment to the local area, demonstrating commitments to social value and ensuring benefits would be felt across the community. We look forward to working with all round 3 projects, to ensure delivery of these benefits can get underway as quickly as possible.

Being cyber secure and protecting personal data underpins everything we do in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. In accordance with the Government Cyber Security Strategy we are working to ensure that our critical functions will be significantly hardened to cyber attack.

I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 188581 on 14 June 2023.

Local authorities have the primary responsibility for ensuring that their online presence, digital services and internal processes are protected from outside interference. In addition, the Department takes the threat of cyber attacks to councils seriously, including by undertaking a survey of malware and ransomware across all English councils following the previous attack at Redcar & Cleveland and Hackney Councils.