Speeches by Western.

“Pat, I imagine that working across Government is very difficult, given the kind of silo mentality that may exist in different Departments. There are many Departments involved with national security. What is your approach to make it work?”

“Do you think there are areas where it could be quite useful to introduce a more process-driven approach?”

“Obviously, it is about bringing together those who need to be brought together to ensure that everyone is working with common purpose. I was struck by the work of the Export Control Joint Unit, and how that is set out in a flow-chart, process-driven approach. Is that something that is being replicated in a very formali…”

“Good to see you again, Mr Norman. I would like to pick up on the point about your legacy systems. I think that there is a learning there, maybe, for all of us—not just in the private sector but in the public sector. You mentioned the British Library. Compared with the £300 million, which you are saying is a gross estim…”

“Finally, we just heard from M&S—you may have been the room—about its situation with legacy systems, which is typical of all organisations. It was looking at the financial cost of doing that, and the cost to business that it has been hit with. What can Government do to incentivise more investment in this sphere by busin…”

“This is a question for you, Richard. The Government talk about a whole-society approach to this challenge. How do you think our deployment of resources and investment in our capabilities, in both the private and public sector, are matching up against the investment of our adversaries?”

“We heard just now that 1% of small businesses are aware of the NSCS. Is that a surprise to you, and what do you need to do to build awareness? If we are going to have a whole-society approach, small businesses may be vulnerable, as we know, but small businesses supply larger businesses, and that can affect the larger b…”

“We heard from Marks & Spencer and the Co-op. Were you surprised or reassured by what you heard about their experiences?”

“On the point about how businesses interface with the NCSC, how good are they at using the cyber threat intelligence and assessment in making decisions, and how effective is the NCSC in informing that process?”

“What is your estimate of small businesses’ awareness?”

“This is a question for you, Katharina and Jamie. As external, independent observers of NCSC, what is your take on the impact it is having across society, business and the public sector?”

“On your point about the tech stack and what is happening in the US, is the EU doing more interesting stuff in that area now?”

“Ciaran, it has now been 10 years since the NCSC was first proposed. It came into being two years later. Is it realising what you imagined, or do you have any frustrations about its reach or how it is regarded by the public sector, Government and wider society?”

“There could be some fiscal incentive for businesses to focus on this.”

“I welcome this statement. The point about Exercise Pegasus reminds me of Exercise Cygnus, the findings of which, I am saddened to say, the previous Government ignored in advance of what then became the pandemic we faced. In recent weeks we have seen attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and others, and the fire at …”

“We need good community policing, but we also need good senior leadership teams in our forces. A recent review of Warwickshire police showed the leadership and the force management need improvement, and that its response times were inadequate. Would the Home Secretary look into Warwickshire police?”

“What is the industry’s sense of how much is being lost in terms of business to these illegal operations?”

“The same applies to nail bars, presumably.”

“Sometimes it does not work so well with the police directly. It might be better to have this channelled straight into Home Office and then for it to come back down again. Would you agree with that?”

“I am really interested in the associations’ perspectives. Victoria, you mentioned the Home Office. What response are you getting from the Home Office on the suggestion that there are a lot of illegal businesses involved in money laundering? I am sure many of your members are on the high street. They could identify or s…”