Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)

I am grateful to the noble Lord for raising this topic through his amendment, and I recognise the strength of feeling on reforming the Computer Misuse Act. I agree that the UK should have the right legislative framework to allow us to tackle the threats posed by cyber criminals. The Home Office has already carefully reviewed the Computer Misuse Act and proposes to introduce a defence to Section 1 for accredited cyber security researchers when carrying out certain cyber security activity that would currently be unlawful under Section 1 of the CMA. The Home Office has worked closely with the NCSC, law enforcement and the cyber security industry to refine these proposals. The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, was briefed by Home Office officials on these proposals in February, and I hope this is able to demonstrate meaningful progress that the Government are making on this issue. The Home Office recognises that legislating in this area is a priority and will do so as parliamentary time allows. As noble Lords here are all aware, the King’s Speech in May included a commitment to a national security Bill, with measures to update the Computer Misuse Act, and work is ongoing to bring forward this legislation. The review proposed by this particular amendment would be undesirable because it would be limited to the scope of the NIS regulations. This would be too narrow for the scope of the Computer Misuse Act; it is also unlikely to provide the Government with new information on how the Act should be reformed. I am sure that the noble Lord and others in this Room will be active in the passage of this legislation once introduced. I have read his correspondence with the Home Office, including the activities that the noble Viscount, Lord Camrose, referenced, and his expertise across all these areas will be hugely welcomed once it is introduced.