Cyber Security and Resilience Bill Clears Lords Second Reading

The House of Lords has debated the main principles of the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which aims to strengthen protections for the UK's essential services.

The Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday 14 July, with peers setting out their views on a bill designed to tighten cyber security requirements across the UK's essential services.

The bill would update the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations 2018, extending their reach to additional sectors and strengthening incident reporting duties for organisations providing services such as healthcare, drinking water and energy. It would also give the Secretary of State powers to amend the legislation and issue directions to organisations where national security requires it.

Baroness Lloyd of Effra, Minister for Digital Economy, opened the debate and responded on the government's behalf. Contributing peers brought perspectives from across the cyber and critical infrastructure landscape, including:

• Baroness Alexander of Cleveden, Chair of the Electrotechnical Sector Joint Industry Board

• Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, Chair of the advisory board to Thales Group UK

• Baroness Harding of Winscombe, former CEO of the UK Health Security Agency and former head of NHS Test and Trace

• Baroness Kidron, Board Member of the Data Protection Foundation

• Lord Vaizey of Didcot, former Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy

The bill will now move to committee stage, the first opportunity for line-by-line scrutiny, scheduled for Tuesday 1 September.