2025 Comprehensive Spending Review Submission

The IET has produced a submission setting out recommendations for the Comprehensive Spending Review on strengthening the resilience and security of critical national infrastructure, alongside a case study of the national grid.

The IET has used this opportunity to demonstrate how the consequences of cybersecurity threats mean that investment in resilience and mitigation planning is vital for the UK’s economic security. For example, the UK’s energy supply underpins several other sectors, including healthcare, finance and transport. Therefore, cyber-attacks on the national grid would compound several severe impacts, disrupting supply chains and the delivery of financial and public services.

The 2025 Comprehensive Spending Review submission recommends that:

• The Treasury should recognise that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), although beneficial, in service provision it can pose a cyber threat. Money from efficiency savings should be ringfenced to be reinvested into training public service staff and workers across the growth sectors. Government should assess the financial impact of cyber-attack scenarios on critical national infrastructure and growth sectors to target defence investment provision.
• The Government should establish a Chief Cyber Security and Resilience Advisor to ensure government has regular strategic advice on cyber security.
• Departments across government should harness the expertise of professional bodies for guidance, for example, by expanding the expert exchange programme. This ensures we have relevant expertise when it is needed across government and cuts reliance on expensive contractors.
• The Treasury should provide incentives to drive cyber security literacy across growth sector businesses via reskilling and upskilling.