Cyber attacks: MPs and peers to examine UK "vulnerabilities"

Image copyright PA Image caption Some senior GCHQ staff are moving to the new National Cyber Security Centre MPs and peers are to investigate the threat posed to the UK by cyber attacks from other states, including Russia.
A committee headed by former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett will look at the range and origin of threats as part of a review of the government"s new national cyber security strategy.
She said hostile actions by foreign governments “for political purposes” were among challenges facing the UK.
Ministers say a “small number” of foreign actors present a danger.
Russia"s "cyber war" against the West UK moves to ‘active cyber-defence’ US hacking "could inspire attack on UK" The government has identified cyber warfare as a tier one threat to the UK alongside international terrorism although it has publicly refrained from naming Russia – which is widely thought to have engaged in cyber warfare for a decade – or any other state.
The US gove..

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Migrants should have to learn English, say MPs and peers

Image copyright Getty Images A group of MPs and peers says migrants should be expected to learn English before coming to the UK, or attend language classes when they arrive.
The cross-party group said speaking English was “the key to full participation in our society and economy”.
They also said ministers should consider letting different parts of the UK set their own immigration policy.
The government said it was spending £20m on English language provision.
"Meaningful engagement"Last month a report by Dame Louise Casey warned of “worrying” levels of segregation in some areas and called for more English classes for isolated groups.
The report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration urges the government to go further, saying all immigrants should have either learnt English before coming to the UK or be required to sign up to classes when they arrive.
The group said integration should begin upon arrival in the UK and described speaking English as a “prerequ..

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Brexit could leave UK less safe, warn peers

Image copyright EPA Brexit could leave the UK “less safe” unless security co-operation with the EU is maintained, peers have warned.
Losing access to EU databases like the Schengen Information System would be an “abrupt shock” to policing, they say.
Their report says if there is “tension” between maintaining security and bringing control of laws to Westminster and say security should take priority.
The government says co-operation on security is a priority and it will do what is needed “to keep people safe”.
"Great deal to offer"The report from the Lords EU Home Affairs sub-committee concedes that security co-operation is one policy area where a “positive outcome” is in everyone"s interests.
But it warns that, as a post-Brexit UK would no longer be part of the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice – which EU states see as providing oversight and checks and balances – things might be more difficult than imagined.
“Even with the utmost goodwill on both sid..

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Hereditary peers reform plan runs out of time

Image copyright PA A bill to scrap hereditary peer by-elections has faltered amid claims of an attempt to talk it out.
Tory peer Lord Trefgarne was accused of being involved in a “clear filibuster” to prevent the House of Lords Act 1999 (Amendment) Bill from progressing.
He also tabled more than 40 of up to 60 amendments with fellow hereditary the Earl of Caithness for debate.
He was warned by other peers that standing in the way of reform risked making the chamber a “laughing stock”.
Image caption Viscount Thurso was elected to sit as a Lib Dem hereditary peer in April Reforms to the Lords by the last Labour government left just 92 hereditary peers in place in 1999.
The bill, put forward by Labour"s Lord Grocott, would remove the election process used to fill vacancies caused by the death, resignation or expulsion of the hereditary peers.
Only hereditary peers are eligible to stand for election, and only peers from the group in which the vacancy arose can vote.
In the Lords on..

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