Joint Committee to examine National Security Capability Review

In July 2017, the Government announced a review of national security capabilities. This National Security Capability Review (NSCR) is informed by cross-departmental teams working under the direction of the National Security Adviser.

The aim of the Capability Review is to ensure that the UK’s investment in its national security capabilities, set out by the 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review, "is as joined-up, effective and efficient as possible" in addressing changing security challenges.  

The National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review was last updated in 2015, and is due for renewal in 2020. A report is published annually to review the progress of implementation and the NSCR is intended to complement this work.  

The JCNSS plans to hold a two-part inquiry on the NSCR. 

Chair of the Joint Committee, Dame Margaret Beckett MP, commented:  

"The National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence and Security Review provide the framework for our national security capabilities.  

“In December, we took evidence from the Prime Minister's Security Adviser, Sir Mark Sedwill, who told us that the UK was facing new challenges to its national security. We intend to consider how the threats and the wider security environment have changed and how the Government is dealing with this." 

In this first call for evidence the Committee is particularly interested in receiving submissions which address:  

• ·         the specific areas of national security policy that are under consideration as part of the NSCR;  

• ·         ways in which the threats to the UK’s national security have changed since 2015, especially in relation to the four particular challenges identified in the 2015 NSS & SDSR:  

      i.the increasing threat posed by terrorism, extremism and instability;  

    ii.the resurgence of state-based threats and intensifying wider state competition;  

   iii.the impact of technology, especially cyber threats;  

    iv.the erosion of the international rules-based order;  

• ·         the extent to which the 2015 NSS & SDSR has been able to respond flexibly to the evolving national security challenges facing the UK, in terms of:   

      i.the strategic analysis set out in the document;  

      ii.the range of capabilities set out in the document, including defence;  

• ·         changes to the wider international security environment, such as the change in Administration in the United States and the UK’s vote to leave the European Union;  

• ·         the extent to which the NSCR was necessitated by challenges in delivering the capabilities set out in the 2015 NSS & SDSR;   

• ·         whether the total resources allocated by, and the skills available to, the Government in relation to national security are sufficient to meet today’s challenges, and are appropriately balanced across the range of capabilities set out in the 2015 NSS & SDSR;  

• ·         the extent to which it was possible to anticipate in 2015 the trajectory and pace of changes in the national security environment since the publication of the 2015 NSS & SDSR.  

  

Written evidence can be submitted using the  Committee’s web portal. The deadline is Friday 9 February 2018.   

  

The Joint Committee, established to consider the National Security Strategy, was reappointed by the Commons in October 2017 and by the Lords in November 2017. Its role includes scrutiny of the structures for Government decision-making as well as cross-government expenditure and policy related to the national security strategy.  

Further information:

Committee membership: Margaret Beckett (Chair) (Labour); Lord Brennan (Labour); Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat); Yvette Cooper (Labour); James Gray (Conservative); Mr Dominic Grieve (Conservative); Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative); Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour); Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill (Labour); Baroness Henig (Labour); Dan Jarvis (Labour); Lord King of Bridgwater (Conservative); Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho (Crossbench); Dr Julian Lewis (Conservative); Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party); Robert Neill (Conservative); Lord Powell of Bayswater (Crossbench); Rachel Reeves (Labour); Lord Trimble (Conservative); Tom Tugendhat (Conservative); Stephen Twigg (Labour) (Co-op); Theresa Villiers (Conservative).