Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Cyber-security

Thursday 6 March 2025 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Government are helping Ukraine's cyber-defenders with 16 million of UK funding to detect, disrupt and deter Russian cyber-attacks.
  • ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is required to have an in-house Chinese Communist Party committee.
  • There is a well-established process for transparency about meetings between Government Ministers and outside organisations, including TikTok.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Johanna Baxter Lab Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Ukraine Defence Business & Trade
Context

Following concerns expressed about ransomware attacks, Johanna Baxter refers to discussions with Ukrainian officials regarding the extensive Russian cyber-attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure since the invasion.

Question

Last week I spoke to businesses and officials working on Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure who are on the frontline of Russian cyber-attacks. They told me that, since the invasion, there have been cyber-attacks on virtually every aspect of Ukrainian life, highlighting the scope of the damage they have done to civilian and military operations. Can my right hon. Friend say a little more about how we are learning the lessons from this conflict and what we are doing to protect our own national infrastructure from Russian cyber-attacks?

Answer from The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Pat McFadden)

The Government are helping Ukraine’s cyber-defenders to detect, disrupt and deter Russian cyber-attacks. The programme is backed by £16 million of UK funding, using world-leading expertise from both the private and public sectors to protect Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure. We understand that the protection of cyber-assets is part of modern warfare, and we are providing this help for Ukraine, just as we have supplied it with a large number of weapons over the past three years.

Answered
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Q2 Richard Holden Con Basildon and Billericay
Standards & Ethics
Context

Mr Holden discusses ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, noting that it is required to have an in-house Chinese Communist Party committee. He mentions increased attacks from China on UK national infrastructure and cyber-networks.

Question

ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is required as a Chinese company to have an in-house Chinese Communist party committee. We all know that attacks from China on our national infrastructure as well as on our cyber-networks are becoming increasingly common, and it is clear that elements of the Chinese Government are behind them. Yet, astonishingly, the Government are still failing to fully declare ministerial meetings with TikTok representatives. Will the Minister ensure that meetings with TikTok executives are declared by Government Ministers alongside other senior media executive registrations, given TikTok’s huge presence in the media space, the massive public influence it has and the known cyber-risks posed by this Chinese platform?

Answer from The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Pat McFadden)

There is a well-established process for transparency about meetings between Government Ministers and outside organisations, and TikTok will be treated in the same way as anyone else.

Partly answered

Not addressed: specific request to declare meetings with TikTok executives

How: Treated In The Same Way

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