House of Lords
Parliament

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Crossbencher Viscount Waverely concludes the debate, telling peers: "we must encourage companies to invest fully in cyber security to protect us all."

He says the debate has been "both relevant and interesting", and that he hopes the government will listen to all the ideas shared.

Viscount Waverley sums up the debate by reiterating his opening remark that "tackling cyber threats must be a global movement."

The peers now move on to discuss music education.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow women and equalities minister Carolyn Harris says human trafficking and modern slavery is "thriving through our international economy".

She tells MPs that an estimated 50% of Thai fisherman are known to be trafficked, and that trafficking is not "just happening overseas".

She says UK car washers, nail bars and restaurants are "hot spots for evil traffickers".

Ms Harris accuses supermarkets of delivering low prices and year-round choice by using their "huge buying power" to exert "relentless pressure" on their suppliers.

The shadow minister calls on UK supermarkets to act on human and labour rights, support a 'living wage' and radically improve transparency.

She calls on the government to enforce compliance with the Human Slavery Act and support a UN binding treaty.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Conservative peer Lord Young of Cookham, spokesperson for the cabinet office, says the definition of a cyber attack is "the deliberate exploitation of computer systems and networks to cause harm."

Lord Young says a review on the budget for cyber security from 2020 onwards will be conducted in an upcoming spending review.

"Our response to an attack is calibrated by the severity of an attack," he says, "but peers are right to say we need a whole society approach."

Lord Young acknowledges the importance of communication with other countries on the issue, saying "whilst we can lead the way, we cannot tackle this issue alone."

"The government are actively looking at new cyber security training plans, and schemes to create cyber apprentices," he says.

He says today the prime minister is convincing the EU Council to focus more strongly on combating cyber threats.

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Labour spokesperson for home affairs, Lord Kennedy says he is concerned that £1.9bn "despite being a large sum of money, may not be enough to combat all the cyber threats the UK are going to face in the near future".

"We should all be aware of the importance of passwords and being able to properly protect ourselves," he says.

Lord Kennedy says the attitudes of technology platforms are "most disappointing" and they have "used many people's data incorrectly". He calls for "proper redress" for people who have suffered at the hands of these companies.

He says while £24bn was lost by businesses due to cyber attacks in 2016, we must ask how much money individual businesses are putting into information security training.

"Nato regard cyber security as a modern area of defence, and I hope the government move in this direction too," he says.

He ends by reiterating that "cooperation with other countries, now and after Brexit, is key."

House of Commons
Parliament

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SNP MP Patrica Gibson says it is time to "shine a light on the inequality and suffering that exists within the global supermarket chain".

She says the issue is that supermarkets have become "hugely powerful".

The MP says workers, small scale suppliers and farmers, particularly in developing countries, can face "great suffering and unfairness" due to a "power imbalance".

Ms Gibson says the world is seeing "gross global inequality" and "escalating climate change".

She tells the house that supermarkets move through countries and supplies as the seasons change, but cheap food and all year choice comes at a "price".

She add the prices for suppliers continue to be "squeezed", creating "huge suffering" for those providing the food and "trapping them in poverty".

House of Lords
Parliament

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Liberal Democrat peer Lord Fox, who sits on the Science and Technology Committee, says "we have been doing the right things, but we need to do a lot more."

"A multilateral approach is essential," he says, adding that the UK must continue to cooperate with EU counterparts on the issue after Brexit.

Lord Fox says the government has "a duty" to provide better information security guidance to people.

"You wouldn't put all your expensive items in the shed at the bottom of your garden with a bolt on it and expect no one to steal them, but many people think it is right to put all their sensitive information in the cloud data storage system," he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP John Hayes says the government "really needs to step up" in its attempts to tackle exploitation in supply chains.

He says that big supermarkets control the vast majority of the grocery market, and this concentration of power "magnifies and exaggerates" poor practices.

Growers are unable to walk away from bad deals, he says, which can force them to reduce standards.

More needs to be done to encourage the return of "vivid, vibrant, vital, vivacious high streets," he says, so that the domination of supermarkets can be weakened.

"The future can be as joyful as we choose it to be", he adds.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Minister Alok Sharma is asked about loss in income for those on Universal Credit and requests to the Chancellor for additional funding.

Mr Sharma replies that the committee is "verging into budget territory".

He adds: "part of this whole process has been about listening to what people are saying".

Conservative MP and acting chair Heidi Allen asks how long MPs will have to wait before the regulations for the next stage of the rollout will appear, and if there will be a debate.

The work and pensions minister says "shortly", and confirms there will be a debate.

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Labour peer Lord Browne of Ladyton says he is unsure of how many years the government's commitment of a £1.9bn investment into cyber security is supposed to last.

He asks ministers when a "proper debate" on cyber security will occur on government time, and what steps the government is taking to liaise with the US over potential cyber attacks.

He says as 91% of cyber attacks are carried out through email, it is up to individuals to carry out "better security house keeping" of their devices, and to ensure their software is updated.

"This alone would reduce the threat," he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

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MPs now move onto this afternoon's first backbench business debate, which is on exploitation of workers in supermarket supply chains.

Opening the debate, Labour MP Kerry McCarthy says modern slavery is a big problem in the supply of food, particularly in seafood sector.

"This isn't something that is just happening overseas and has little to do with us, these are products on our supermarket shelves", she tells MPs.

She adds that smaller producers of products such as Kenyan beans and Indian tea "are earning less than half" what they need to survive.

She points to Fair Trade and Oxfam's 'Behind the Barcode' scorecard as a way consumers can help avoid supporting exploitative suppliers.

Brexit brings additional concerns, she says, arguing that seasonal worker schemes could leave people vulnerable to exploitative working.

Ms McCarthy says she fears the government's ambitions to end modern slavery "may be slipping".

House of Lords
Parliament

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Former national security adviser Lord Ricketts says the UK "is very fortunate" to have a large, world leading centre of excellence in the area of cyber security.

The crossbench peer says there is a need for "permanent vigilance" as "there is a growing threat to the UK from hostile states".

He calls for investment to be made in encouraging young people, "especially girls", to pursue careers in cyber security to increase protection from threats in future years.

Conservative peer Lord Borwick says the attack on the NHS last year "was pretty basic" and "quite frankly, embarrassing".

He says some of the NHS computers hacked were still using Windows 95, and asks for more money to be spent on technology in the public sector "to make high-risk information harder to penetrate".

"We must all regularly update software," he says.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Labour peer Lord West of Spithead, who produced the United Kingdom's first ever National Security Strategy, says "cyber is on everyone's lips."

"We ignore the basic reality that cyber security is about risk management, but we must understand the risks and take the action to manage them," he says.

He calls for the task to be "fitted to the human's ability, not the other way around", to create "the most effective strategy for combating cyber security".

Lord West says the UK is "exposed to data theft and security breaches" with the progression towards 5G, so "now is the time to crank up efforts put into this area."

He says a "small cell" should be set up with direct communication links to the prime minister to "assess what level of risk the UK should allow", and to "speed up the process of removing any significant threat as quickly as possible".

House of Lords
Parliament

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Conservative peer Lord Lucas says "collaboration and innovation are key," and "this cannot be tackled by the security services alone".

He calls for the government to "wake up to the issue", and says ministers should work with companies to create a joint force against cyber attacks.

"This activity ought to be regulated, and we have gone back in this area to lawless days," he says.

He says "the government is taking effective action in this area," but there is "a lot more to do, and the talent is out there to help combat this threat."

"We must work more with industry to create comprehensive training plans and encourage their teaching at apprenticeship level," he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

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SNP spokesman Pete Wishart asks for clarity regarding the so-called "meaningful vote" on the Brexit deal.

"We're grateful that it will be an amendable motion, but there must be no suggestion that it will be a binary choice between a disastrous Brexit and the horrors of a no deal", he says.

"It must be up to this House to decide and determine the biggest decision that this House will be making in the course of the last few decades."

Ms Leadsom responds that "anything other than the straightforward approval of the deal" will bring "huge uncertainty".

However, she says "any motion of the House is a matter for the House to decide".

"The Speaker will decide whether to accept any amendments to the motion in the usual way".

House of Lords
Parliament

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Peers are now debating the scale and complexity of cyber threats facing the UK.

Crossbench peer Viscount Waverley introduces the debate, saying cyber activity "poses an immense challenge for the government" and "will affect everyone".

He calls for mandatory recording of cyber threats and attacks, and "more global cooperation on this issue to set out the strategic direction of tackling this huge issue".

Viscount Waverley says it is "high time to review the legal framework surrounding cyber threats, and to look at a global treaty".

He suggests a "cyber school" should be created to provide high quality cyber threat education and to "promote discourse".

He asks what the government's definition of a cyber attack is, and what is the response strategy.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz picks up on the latest row over the possibility of a so-called meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal.

Some MPs have reacted angrily to suggestions from Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab that "anything other than a straightforward approval of the deal" would bring uncertainty for businesses.

A number of MPs want the ability to amend the government's approval motion. This could send government back to the negotiating table. Ms Vaz warns of a ministerial "power grab".

In response Andrea Leadsom says that the "form of such a motion" will be "in the hands of the House itself", which will have the power to "amend, approve or reject" it.

However she says it will be important for MPs to consider the question "in reality" that is facing the country.

"That is whether or not to accept the deal that the government has negotiated with the European Union", she adds.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Labour MP Steve McCabe asks who will be able to identify "vulnerable" and whether it will be a politician, social worker, or charity worker that is able to contact the department.

Alok Sharma says the department plans to work that out during the test and learn phase.

He adds the department are "open to suggestions" on trusted parties.

Labour's Rosie Duffield quotes the Disability Benefits Consortium, a collection of 80 disability charities, and says that "managed migration is a misleading phrase" because the department ends a claim and invites a new claim.

She tells the minister that people with disabilities may not be able to make that claim.

He replies that the intention is not to mislead. He says that the move to Universal Credit will not be sudden and there will "clearly" be a process.

Select Committee
Parliament

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SNP MP Chris Stephens asks what tests will be carried out on the managed Universal Credit migration pilot and then the full rollout.

Mr Alok replies that the department is "co-designing the system" with key "stakeholders", and taking into account what they think is going to matter.

He says the test phase will be later this year, and will look at all benefit types.

He adds the volumes will be low and in a small number of job centres or connected services.

He says the department was "incredibly prescriptive" in the past, and this hadn't left "an opportunity to adapt" to feedback from stakeholders.

The SNP MP then asks about the department's capacity to deliver, and pressure on staff.

Mr Sharma tells the committee that 100,000 claimants a month are being rolled onto Universal Credit.

He believes the department has the resources "at the moment", but adds part of the test and learn phase will be addressing if there is a need for more.