Question
The United Kingdom is arguably already in a state of hybrid war against our adversaries. Does the Minister anticipate a cognitive component to this strategy designed to strengthen community resilience, not least to make it resilient against the kind of active disinformation that is likely to seek to undermine it? In that spirit, how will the strategy dovetail with the national centre for information defence?
Answer
I hope that the hon. Gentleman will see that there is a reasonably obvious correlation between resilience at a local and community level and national resilience. Our national resilience will only be as strong as it can be if we have underpinned it with work that takes place at a localised level. It is work that we have not done previously as a Government—we need to build that wider societal resilience. We are starting bottom up, by investing in individual households to ensure that there is localised resilience. There will be wider and deeper benefits to our national security as a consequence of that. NCID, which the Prime Minister recently announced, will mean that we are much better placed to deter and defeat the misinformation and disinformation that we have seen for too long.33% vibes
Verdict: AMBER (28/100)
The reply addresses local and community resilience in general terms and points to investment in households, but it does not say whether the strategy includes resilience to disinformation or cognitive threats. Its only mention of disinformation is a brief reference to NCID's deterrence role. It also does not explain how the strategy will connect with NCID, so the alignment question is largely unanswered. Overall the reply is mostly hedged rather than specific, and the person who asked would likely need to submit a follow-up for concrete detail.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does the Minister anticipate that the strategy will include a cognitive component designed to strengthen community resilience, including resilience against disinformation? | Partially Addressed | Hedged | The reply stresses that local and community resilience underpins national resilience and cites investment in individual households (statement 4), which is a concrete action. It never says whether the strategy includes a cognitive or disinformation-resilience element for communities, and the only disinformation reference (statement 6) concerns NCID's deterrence role, so the cognitive/disinformation limb is only gestured at. |
| How will the strategy align with the national centre for information defence? | Partially Addressed | Hedged | Statement 6 names NCID and says it will improve the ability to counter misinformation, but it does not explain how the strategy will align with or connect to the centre, so the alignment question is largely unanswered. |