Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on the US Government’s Clean Network initiative; what assessment the Government has made of the potential efficacy of that initiative in protecting the UK's digital network from (a) exploitation and (b) potential disruption by hostile states; and whether the Government plans to subscribe to that project.  [110285]

[Due for Answer on 4 November.]

ANSWER

The Minister for Middle East and North Africa (James Cleverly): The forthcoming Telecoms Security Bill will establish a robust framework to drive up security standards across the UK's telecoms providers and control the presence of equipment from High Risk Vendors in the UK's telecoms networks. We are aware of the US Clean Networks initiative and look forward to discussing further the detail of the initiative with the US to inform our assessment. We have a close dialogue with the US on telecoms security and the importance of diversification in the global telecoms market. We have engaged with them extensively following our decision in July that operators should remove all Huawei equipment from the 5G network by the end of 2027. For example we held senior expert level talks with them this September and the Foreign Secretary discussed telecoms with Secretary of State Pompeo during his visit in July.