(Lab): My Lords, I
declare an interest as police and crime commissioner for
Leicestershire and Rutland. I too welcome the fact that the
Government have found time for this debate...
(LD): My Lords, I
will concentrate on the issue of terrorism. I guess that if we
had not had the attacks in Westminster, Manchester, on London
Bridge and in Finsbury Park, we would not be having this debate
today. I also want to acknowledge the significant experience
among noble Lords who have spoken this afternoon. The noble Lord,
, who is a police and crime
commissioner, has perhaps the most up-to-date experience...
(Lab): ...I
appreciate, of course, that there will be real limits to what the
Government will want to disclose, but how are decisions made on
the resources that need to be made available to protect us from
cyberattacks in a situation where the speed of technological
advance is rapid, and where keeping ahead of the game is vital?
Is the provision of resources to combat the threat of
cyberattacks, particularly by or with the blessing of other
nation states, affected by financial constraints, or do we
provide whatever resources are needed to combat those threats?
Lower down the line, have our police forces been given the
resources, skills and capabilities needed to combat the rapid
increase in the types of cybercrime with which they increasingly
have to deal? Are decisions on how such resources are allocated
determined by individual chief constables
and Police and Crime Commissioners when
they draw up budgets, or are such matters determined on a
national basis, and, if so, by whom? The effectiveness of the
National Crime Agency in combating cybercrime, which recognises
no individual police force boundaries, can be hampered only if
individual police forces do not regard putting more resources
into combating this particular type of crime as a priority when
forced to make such choices through being stretched, which is how
more than one commissioner or chief constable has recently
described their current situation...
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