Source · Select Committees · National Security Strategy (Joint Committee)
Recommendation 21
21
Accepted
The Government should support the subsea cable industry in rolling out more extensive cable monitoring...
Recommendation
The Government should support the subsea cable industry in rolling out more extensive cable monitoring technology and should explore incentives to encourage such investment. This could include Government commitments to make better use of existing measures and data—for example more proactive identification and investigation of vessels switching off Automatic Identification Systems. We also encourage industry to engage closely with the Ministry of Defence to ensure underwater monitoring does not unduly compromise defence activity. (Recommendation, Paragraph 135)
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to support the subsea cable industry in rolling out monitoring technology and is already engaged in cross-government cooperation, including commercial relationships and partnerships with the Royal Navy. It will explore better use of existing data, including AIS, and is collaborating across departments to ensure monitoring does not compromise defence or safety, while also considering new legislation.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government agrees with this recommendation. We recognise that the deployment of sensor and monitoring technologies presents both opportunities to enhance the resilience of subsea cable infrastructure as well as risks that must be carefully managed. We are committed to supporting industry in the responsible use of cable monitoring technologies. Cross-government cooperation is already underway, including the development of commercial relationships to support cable monitoring. This work is being conducted in partnership with the Royal Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness team, which has the technical expertise to integrate monitoring data with other data sources. This will improve threat identification and reporting, enabling timely action and refinement of incident response plans. We recognise that vessels that switch off their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) may be more likely to take part in activities that increase the risk of cable damage, and we will explore how existing measures and data sources can be better used to identify and deter such behaviour. However, it should be noted that many high-profile cable breaks also involved vessels with AIS switched on. DSIT, MoD, DESNZ, Defra and the Department for Transport (DfT) are working closely together to ensure that any expansion of underwater monitoring capabilities does not compromise defence operations or maritime safety. We will continue to engage with industry to manage the risks of such compromise. We will also consider whether new legislation might be necessary in relation to the use of such monitoring capabilities as part of our subsea cables legislation review.