Recommendation 1

HM Government Acknowledged

6. The Integrated Review identified the trends that would shape the international environment to 2030. The UK Government’s decision to publish a refresh of the Integrated Review reflects the pace at which these trends have accelerated over the past two years. We are now in a period of heightened risk and volatility that is likely to last beyond the 2030s. IR2023 updates the UK’s priorities to reflect the resulting changes in the global context. Our approach is an evolution of the strategic priorities set out in the Integrated Review – positioning the UK as a responsible, reliable and effective international actor, investing in the global relationships we need to thrive in an era of international uncertainty. 7. Resilience of the United Kingdom is central to IR2023, reflected in one of its four pillars, ‘Addressing vulnerabilities through resilience’. This pillar develops the UK’s approach to resilience as set out in IR2021, and sets out a long-term campaign to identify and address strategic vulnerabilities that leave the UK exposed to crises and hostile actors. The pillar sets out action to improve the UK’s resilience by addressing vulnerabilities in five key areas: i) Energy, climate, and health security—maximising sources of supply in the immediate term, accelerating the transition to clean energy and net zero in the longer-term, strengthening the UK’s resilience to the risks associated with climate change and environmental damage, and strengthening health resilience at home and overseas. ii) Economic security—remaining an open and outward-looking economy that welcomes safe foreign investment to drive growth across the UK, creating a new National Protective Security Authority within MI5 to provide UK businesses and organisation with access to expert security advice, and launching a new Economic Deterrence Initiative to improve our sanctions implementation and enforcement. iii) Democratic and wider societal resilience—making electoral processes and infrastructure secure, and strengthening the resilience of our democratic institutions to corruption and influence. iv) Cyber security and resilience—building the UK’s cyber security and resilience through the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre, implementing the 2022 National Cyber Strategy, and working with external experts in the new National Cyber Advisory Board to prevent, resist, and minimise the impact of attacks. v) UK border—reducing the UK’s vulnerability to threats from state and non- state actors, stopping illegal migration, and protecting the UK’s biosecurity. 8. This activity will build on robust action already taken since the publication of the 2021 Integrated Review to strengthen the UK’s resilience and protect our interests from hostile state action, including: creating new powers to protect our critical industries under the National Security and Investment Act, bolstering the security of our 5G network through the Telecommunications Act, and training more than 170 civil servants in Mandarin. 9. Furthermore, in December 2022, the Government published the UK Resilience Framework, which sets out our plan to strengthen the systems and capabilities that underpin our collective resilience to all risks. The framework sets out three key principles that lay the foundation of our work, and how we deliver resilience: i) That a shared understanding of risk is fundamental; ii) That wherever possible, prevention should be adopted over cure; and iii) That resilience is a ‘whole-of-society’ endeavour. Conclusion/