Thank you, Mr Chair. It is now over 250 days since we, along with the rest of the world, witnessed the start of President Putin’s unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack on Ukraine. Throughout this time, we have highlighted the truth in the face of Russia’s disinformation and propaganda.  In addition to the horrendous violence Russia has and continues inflict on the Ukrainian people, there has been an enormous cost to the people of Russia too.  Thousands of young Russian lives have been lost on land, at sea and in the air; fighting in an illegal war of choice based on contrived rationales, confused narratives and shifting goals. This is not conjecture, this is not opinion, it is fact.

The failures of Putin’s horrendous adventurism are becoming increasingly apparent to the Russian people.  They are becoming increasingly aware that their recently mobilised family members, neighbours and friends are being badly trained, badly equipped and then sent to the battlefield to reinforce poorly equipped, poorly led and demoralised professional soldiers.  It is perhaps no wonder then that so many Russians have chosen to flee their own country to avoid mobilisation.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Russian military leaders continue to commit more and more Russian troops to the war in an attempt to overcome their failures.  Due to low morale and a reluctance to fight, Russian forces have now reportedly started to deploy “barrier troops” or “block units”.  These units threaten to shoot their own retreating soldiers in order to compel offensives.

Low morale, indiscipline and dysfunction continues to reach the highest levels of Russia’s military leadership too.  On 3 November, Major General Alexander Linkov was reportedly appointed acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District.  Linkov replaces Colonel General Alexander Lapin who was purportedly removed from office at the end of October.  If confirmed, this is just the latest in a series of dismissals of senior Russian military commanders since the onset of the invasion last February, including the Commanders of the Eastern, Southern, and Western Military Districts.  A pattern of blame against senior Russian military commanders for failures to achieve President Putin’s objectives on the battlefield.

It is worth noting that Colonel General Lapin had been widely criticised for poor performance on the battlefield in Ukraine by both Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin.  The latter appears to be gaining increasing influence in the Kremlin, with his private military company being increasingly relied upon to provide fundamental security tasks normally expected of the Russian State.

For example, on 6 November, Prigozhin announced the creation of centres for the training and management of “people’s militias” in Belgorod and Kursk oblasts in

Russia. These “people’s militias” probably function outside the Russian MOD’s structure and chain of command. Their stated intent is to establish units to help defend Russia’s borders.

Meanwhile, as Russia scrambles to fortify its defensive lines throughout eastern Ukraine, Prigozhin announced the construction of a fortified ‘Wagner Line’ of defences in Luhansk oblast. The construction represents a significant effort to prepare defences in depth behind the current Russian front line and protect a key logistics line of communication.

However, as we noted last week, Wagner’s recruitment of Russian convicts including individuals suffering from serious diseases and medical conditions, is a sign of desperation to recruit numbers not fighters.  According to the Ukrainian Centre for Researching and Combating Hybrid Threats, 500 Wagner recruited convicts had died fighting in Ukraine by mid-October. In total, the centre assesses 800-1000 Wagner recruits have likely died in Ukraine. Wagner numbers have been further depleted by substantial non-fatal casualties.

That Wagner, a private military company linked to human rights abuses, is being increasingly relied upon to conduct roles normally expected of a government’s security and military apparatus is itself a telling indicator of the parlous state of Putin’s war machine: more defeats; more Generals sacked; more demoralised troops; more discontent amongst the Russian population; and more critique from Russia’s elites.

Mr Chair, Putin and the Russian military leadership have consistently underestimated the will, determination and courage of the Ukrainian military and civilians to defend their homeland from a brutal and barbaric invader.  They continue to fail to understand that every horrendous attack strengthens the Ukrainian resolve and that of its friends, like the UK, who remain steadfast in our support – for however long it takes – to ensure that the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the independence of Ukraine is fully restored.  Thank you.

Introduction

Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us at this Cyber Essentials showcase event. I’m very excited to be here today, and it is great to see so many people here from a range of organisations including large and small businesses, government departments, trade bodies and charities. I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to attend and celebrate this fantastic event with all of us here at DCMS.

It has been great to hear about the Cyber Essentials journey from Chris [Pinder, IASME] and Lindy [Cameron, CEO, National Cyber Security Centre], and some of the noteworthy milestones of the scheme over the past 8 years. It is amazing to be able to say that the 100,000th certificate was awarded a few months ago, and I know that many of you here today are Cyber Essentials certified and are counted in that number.

The UK government is working to make the UK the safest place to live and work online. DCMS plays a critical role in strengthening the UK’s cyber ecosystem and building a resilient and thriving digital UK, in line with our £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy. As part of that strategy, we are committed to increasing the uptake of standards such as Cyber Essentials. To date, Cyber Essentials has had a profound impact in driving improved cyber security across a wide range of organisations. It is becoming increasingly embedded within our economy and it is playing a vital role in driving a more resilient and prosperous UK.

We regularly hear from organisations that are benefitting from the scheme – from large blue chip companies to small organisations and local charities, helping the most vulnerable in society – a small managed service provider in Northern Ireland, a nursing home in Liverpool, a domestic abuse charity in the Midlands and a charity supporting those with visual or hearing loss in Scotland – are just a few organisations that have gone through the Cyber Essentials scheme recently.

We have heard a lot about growth today, not just of the Cyber Essentials scheme itself but of the entire ecosystem that surrounds it. It is also helping improve all organisations’ productivity and growth as they securely embrace digital technologies. The government’s vision is for this growth to continue, especially in the face of economic adversity. We want to raise awareness of the scheme, to see an exponential increase in the number of Cyber Essentials certifications and to raise the baseline of cyber resilience across the economy. We want all organisations in the UK to be working towards Cyber Essentials. To do this, we need organisations to be asking their suppliers, partners and other third parties they engage with to have it. Most suppliers to government need to have Cyber Essentials and we believe that organisations across the wider economy should be asking their own suppliers to do likewise and that is our ask of you today – to promote and use Cyber Essentials as a key tool when assessing the security of your suppliers.

Supply chains

I know a lot of you are grappling with cyber security challenges in your supply chains. Worrying incidents have shown us that exploiting supply chain vulnerabilities can have severe, far reaching consequences. In the supply chain call for views we published last year, 46% of organisations said a lack of tools is a severe barrier to managing their supplier risk.

I believe Cyber Essentials has an important role to play here. It is not a silver bullet and does not guarantee organisations won’t  fall victim to a cyber attack, but it does provide protection and resilience for so many. In our engagements with industry, including many of you, we are seeing an increasing number of organisations use Cyber Essentials as a tool to assure themselves that third parties, including suppliers, have implemented minimum cyber security controls.

For example, the NHS recently introduced a requirement for IT suppliers to have Cyber Essentials, thus raising the bar for those organisations that wish to do business with the NHS.  Other organisations have seen reduced costs and increased efficiency in their due diligence processes by requiring suppliers to have Cyber Essentials. A well known property website recently told us that asking for Cyber Essentials from suppliers has reduced their due diligence process from days to hours. For them, Cyber Essentials has a commercial benefit and is saving them money.

In a similar vein, we are delighted to announce that DCMS is now working in partnership with St James’s Place, a large financial services firm, who have recently required all of their partners to become Cyber Essentials Plus certified. We will hear more from them in our panel discussion in just a few minutes, but this is a great example of an organisation proactively driving improved security practices in those organisations they work so closely with.

Cyber Essentials Pathways

Now, it would be remiss of me to not recognise the fact that for some organisations, especially those with large and complex IT infrastructures, it is a struggle to comply with all aspects of Cyber Essentials. As Lindy mentioned, we are looking forward to seeing the results of the Cyber Essentials Pathways pilot and anticipate this will provide a further opportunity for organisations to attain Cyber Essentials. We want to ensure that being Cyber Essentials certified is accessible for all organisations. To this end, we are also in the process of launching an evaluation of the scheme, to help us identify and address any barriers that organisations face when going through the Cyber Essentials process.

Conclusion

On that note, I wanted to close by saying that my officials and I would love to hear from you, to better understand how DCMS and industry can work together to ensure Cyber Essentials is an effective certification scheme. I invite you to collaborate with us, to join us on the journey to improve Cyber Essentials and ensure it continues to raise the baseline level of cyber security across our supply chains.

The new government remains intent on improving cyber security across our economy. Our Product Security and Telecoms Infrastructure Bill is close to completing its passage through Parliament and when it becomes law, this will ensure much better security in consumer IoT products. We are also working to improve our cyber resilience legislation and expand the number of skilled people working in cyber security. We’re continuing to build our digital identity framework, which will help the public and businesses verify identities in an easy, secure and trustworthy manner.

Together we can reduce the social and economic harm that we continue to see from cyber security attacks and drive a more resilient and prosperous UK. Thank you once again for working with us on this amazing scheme.

“Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker, with permission I would like to make a statement on the issues arising from the failure of the devolved government of Northern Ireland – the Northern Ireland Executive – to form.

“Mr Deputy Speaker, the overriding priority of this Government is to implement, maintain and protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

“Northern Ireland is governed best when governed locally.

“Since May, that has not been possible. But our commitment remains absolutely clear: this Government believes that this is the moment for the restoration of the devolved institutions and will work to that end as a matter of the utmost priority.

“My predecessors have all referred to critical times for Northern Ireland. And there have been many. But this year is indeed a critical one.

“Mr Deputy Speaker, I can see you are thinking that you might have heard that last section of my statement before. And that’s because you have – those words were spoken by a former Secretary of State, the former Member for Neath, at this dispatch box back in 2006.

“And whilst these times are different with different issues affecting Northern Ireland, I and this Government believe strongly that people in Northern Ireland deserve a functioning Assembly and Executive, where locally elected representatives can address issues that matter most to the people that elect them.

“That is why, back in May, people cast their votes in Northern Ireland – to give their communities a voice in Stormont.

“However, for six months the Parties have not come together and, on the 28th October, the deadline to form an Executive, set down in law passed. That was the Northern Ireland Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern Act 2022. This is hugely disappointing.

“As a result, Mr Speaker, I am bound by law to call new elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly, as set out in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, that have to take place within 12 weeks of the 28th October.

“Since 28th October I have been engaging widely in Northern Ireland, with the Parties, businesses, community representatives and members of the public. And I’ve also  spoken with other international interlocutors.

“I think it would be fair to say, Mr Speaker, that the vast majority of those I have spoken to think that an election at this time would be most unwelcome.

“What people would welcome is having their devolved institutions up and running – because they are worried when they see a massive £660m black hole in this year’s public finances at the same time as their public services are deteriorating.

“They are worried that almost 187,000 people in Northern Ireland have been waiting for over a year for their first outpatient appointment.

“And they are worried that there is a higher share of working age adults in Northern Ireland with no formal qualifications than anywhere else in the United Kingdom.

“There is also, Mr Speaker, a legitimate and deep concern about the functioning of the Northern Ireland Protocol. This is felt across Northern Ireland and very strongly indeed in the Unionist community.

“The one thing that everyone agrees on is that we must try and find a way through this current impasse – where I have a legal duty to call an election that few want and everyone tells me will change nothing.

“Thus, I will be introducing legislation to provide a short, straightforward extension to the period for Executive formation – extending the current period by 6 weeks to 8th December, with the potential of a further six week extension to 19th January if necessary.

“This aims to create the time and space needed for talks between the UK Government and the EU Commission to develop and for the Northern Ireland Parties to work together to restore the devolved institutions as soon as possible.

“As I stand here, Mr Deputy Speaker, the Northern Ireland Executive has no Ministers in post.

“This means no Ministers to make choices that deliver the public services people rely on; to react to the budgetary pressures facing schools, hospitals and other key services; to deliver the energy support payments that have been made available by this Government to people across the rest of the United Kingdom.

“Before leaving his post, the Northern Ireland Finance Minister highlighted a £660 million in-year budget black hole, but there are no longer Ministers in the Executive to address this.

“As civil servants do not have the legal authority to tackle these issues in the absence of an Executive, I must take limited but necessary steps to protect Northern Ireland’s public finances and the delivery of public services.

“So, as has been done before, the legislation I introduce will also enable Northern Ireland Departments to support public service delivery; make a small number of vital public appointments, like to the Northern Ireland Policing Board; and address the serious budgetary concerns I’ve already mentioned.

“And, when so many are concerned about the cost of living in Northern Ireland, I know the public there will welcome a further measure I intend to address – another matter addressed by the former Secretary of State who I quoted earlier.

“People across Northern Ireland are frustrated that their Members of the Legislative Assembly continue to draw a full salary whilst not performing all of the duties they were elected to do. I will thus be asking for this House’s support to enable me to reduce MLAs’ salaries appropriately.

“Mr Speaker, let me end by repeating that the overriding priority of this Government is to implement, maintain and protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

“This has been the bedrock of so much of the progress in Northern Ireland over the last quarter century.

“There are some, Mr Speaker, who have called for “joint authority” of Northern Ireland in recent days and let me just say: this will not be considered. The UK Government is absolutely clear that the consent principle governs the constitutional position of Northern Ireland, under which Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom. We will not support any arrangements that are inconsistent with that principle. In addition, we remain fully committed to the long established three stranded approach to Northern Ireland Affairs.

“As we approach the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, I’ve found myself reflecting on the fact that political progress in Northern Ireland has so often required courage, understanding and compromise.

“I hope the measures I have announced in my statement today allow some extra time for these qualities to be displayed once again, and I commend it to the House.”