What is the Cyber Security Council

The Government launched a consultation on 19 July 2018 outlining proposals to develop the cyber security profession in the UK. This included a proposal to create a new, independent UK Cyber Security Council. The consultation ran for six weeks and closed on 31 August 2018. We received 307 responses from a wide range of respondents. We are extremely grateful to everyone who engaged with the consultation.

All suggestions and comments were carefully reviewed and analysed by the Government in the development of this response. The Government decided that the consultation showed strong support for the main thrust of the proposals: which were to define a series of objectives for the profession to achieve and to create a new, independent UK Cyber Security Council to coordinate delivery. The response identifies where the consultation has helped refine and add an extra layer of granularity to the proposals.

In view of the level of support, the Government decided to identify a lead organisation to design and deliver the new UK Cyber Security Council. This Government response was therefore issued alongside an invitation to apply, via a competitive process, for between £1m – £2.5m of Government funding to lead the work.

The application period for proposals opened in December 2018 and ran until March 2019. This Government then awarded the contract to the Cyber Security Alliance who nominated the IET as it’s lead for the project .

Establishing a new, independent UK Cyber Security Council is a key part of the Government’s new Initial Cyber Security Skills Strategy which is being published in parallel.