How will this taskforce be staffed, and where will it sit within Government?

Does the Minister accept that while this taskforce may be an effective way of working, unless there is a change in Government attitudes towards security and information sharing, it will not solve anything?

Will the taskforce focus on the safety and security of Members of Parliament, including those from all parties? Will it also consider how we protect our constituents’ personal data and ensure that Members are aware of how to keep their devices safe?

Will the Minister ensure that we get more women into these roles? I know from my work at the Foreign Office that there are some brilliant women, but they sometimes do not get a chance to be recognised. Will he give them an opportunity?

In the past, there have been significant threats to our democracy. Are Ministers now confident that the Government is doing enough to deal with state actors who are trying to undermine our political systems and institutions?

With the recent incident in Northern Ireland involving a terrorist attack and several people being injured by plastic explosive devices, is the Minister considering whether his taskforce should deal with that sort of issue? The impact on the security services is significant.

Welcomes the statement but raises concerns about past security lapses involving former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Elizabeth Truss. Questions whether the current Home Secretary was involved in a leak when she was Attorney General.

Apologises for early departure but congratulates the Minister on his responsibilities. Raises concerns about oversight of new organisations and asks if taskforce activities involving scrutiny will fall under the purview of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

The Scottish National party spokesman thanked the Minister for his statement and acknowledged the taskforce's importance. He inquired about the timescale, membership appointment process, devolved Governments' participation, and security measures following phone hacking incidents involving former Prime Ministers and Home Secretaries.

The MP expressed concerns over security lapses within the Government, such as carrying switched-off phones into meetings. He questioned why China was not identified as a threat during the initial integrated review and requested that China be reclassified as a strategic threat.

The MP welcomed the cross-party approach to the taskforce and sought assurances that updates from the taskforce would be brought to the House for scrutiny, considering the sensitive nature of some subjects.

The MP asked about urgent actions for growing domestic food and energy production to bolster national security.

The MP suggested the National Security Bill should include a whistleblower defence and proposed meeting with Minister Tugendhat to discuss an amendment.

The MP welcomed Minister Tugendhat and praised his taskforce idea. She emphasised protecting Members from misinformation and cyber-attacks while stressing international cooperation in championing democracy.

I warmly welcome the Minister to his important new role. He and I have spent many years safeguarding the security of information; these are matters that I know he takes very seriously, and I wish him well in the role. Because I know the Minister takes these matters so seriously, I want to return briefly to the shadow Home Secretary’s point about the importance of doing the right thing and the importance of personal conduct. In addition to the measures that the Minister has outlined to the House today, there is an absolute requirement for a vigilant mindset among all Members of this House, but most critically among Ministers, who need to show leadership in the area. Does he agree that when it comes to matters of national security, everyone—everyone—must adhere to the protective regime or be deprived of access and removed from their position if necessary? Those are the rules, and everyone should follow them at all times.

I welcome my right hon. Friend to his place. It was a pleasure to serve with him on the National Security Bill Committee. I also welcome the taskforce that he has set out. Last week, a number of us went with the armed forces parliamentary scheme to Shrivenham, where we not only heard from some of the leading experts in cyber in our armed forces, but saw the new Defence Cyber Academy, which was announced only a few weeks ago by the Defence Secretary. Will the Minister work with our armed forces on cyber to protect British companies and our institutions from Russian and Chinese cyber-attacks that put our national security at risk?

As the Democratic Unionist party spokesman for home affairs, may I express my personal delight at seeing the Minister in his place? I hope that when he is constructing this welcome taskforce, he will recognise that our recent history and our contemporary position in Northern Ireland mean that we have a contribution to make. The Minister and I were elected at the same time. Since then, we have had the strategic defence and security review, the modernising defence programme, the national security capability review and the integrated review, which formed part of his statement. There are two common threads in those four exercises: the threats get bigger, but the budget remains the same. Does he have an assurance at this stage that if the taskforce brings forward a new programme of work to address emerging threats, it will have the associated budget to tackle them?

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and warmly welcome him to his place. In the same way that the UK took a leading role in international collaboration against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is it taking a leading role in international collaboration against cyber-attacks by hostile actors?

I welcome the Minister to his post and welcome the taskforce. While I have no reason to doubt his integrity or commitment to security, I am a little disappointed that although the shadow Home Secretary and my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) both raised the issue of the Government’s integrity with respect to security, he has not addressed it. I thought he might have taken that opportunity, given the situation with Ministers’ email use and the security issues surrounding it. We know that mobile phones and other phones are being used, we have seen the former Prime Minister going off to meet an ex-KGB agent, and there is an issue about Russian money in the Conservative party. I thought that the Minister would address the question of how we can have confidence that he and the Government will put things right to ensure that they take security within the Government seriously. The question that I want to ask the Minister is very simple. Given that the focus has rightly been on Russia and China, on what is happening in Ukraine—obviously—and on energy security, may I suggest that it is important for us not to lose sight of the fact that we need to keep on top of the issue of how we combat terrorism? It seems to have been left on the back burner recently, but we need to know and feel more comfortable about what the Government intend to do to protect the country from terrorism.

As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on cyber security, I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. I am sure he is well aware of the importance of disinformation and misinformation and the harm that it is causing to our country at the moment, whether by undermining our democracy or by spreading conspiracy theories. But if he is in any doubt about that, I recommend to him the BBC series “Death by Conspiracy?”, which shows how our constituents are being hurt, and even dying, as a result of the sharing of disinformation by, often, foreign actors. With that in mind, will my right hon. Friend agree, within the taskforce, to look at the role of legal but harmful content and keep it under review? Will he also ensure that we look at the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and its possible reform? Some of the people who are working hard daily to keep us and our businesses safe are currently under threat of legal action just through doing their jobs.

As a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee, I welcome the announcement of the Minister’s taskforce. Some of the issues he has raised were highlighted in our Russia report of 2020. I heard his commitment to the Chair of the ISC to work with him closely, but may I just say to him that, like the rest of us, he is—to use a Robin Day phrase—a here today, gone tomorrow politician? We need this taskforce’s scrutiny to be embedded in the memorandum of understanding between the Committee and the Government, because otherwise—this point was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne)—it will be impossible for much of the taskforce’s work to be scrutinised in this place.

I congratulate the Minister and welcome him to his new role. May I ask him to answer a serious and simple question? He has made great play of cyber-security and the need for us to be technologically aware of threats. If he was made aware that a civil servant or Government employee had been sacked for sharing Government documents in personal email accounts or devices, would he sanction that person’s re-employment, even if they had apologised?

When it was reported in the press that the former Foreign Secretary’s phone had been hacked, the former head of MI6 said that Ministers needed to be properly educated about the use of their telephones. Hilary Benn asks if now is the time for a more proactive approach with Members and if people with expertise will be able to attend to give practical advice.

In her resignation letter, the Home Secretary said she informed the Cabinet Secretary as soon as she realised her mistake. Andrew Slaughter points out that this is incorrect according to the Home Secretary’s own account and questions whether an independent investigation should be conducted.

Clive Efford inquires whether there are questions about the Home Secretary’s full security clearance and asks for an assurance that she has it, or if not, what the implications are.

Jim Shannon welcomes a taskforce for the UK and questions what steps will be taken to deal with people who chant in support of the IRA, ensuring support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland at all times.