Dr. Margaret Stanley:

I do think this is a very important area. First and foremost, we could say that much of this infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector. As a first line of defence, therefore, we could say those companies have responsibilities to ensure the safety and security of their own infrastructure. As the threats mount, however, and the potential for hybrid attacks increases, I do think there is a role for Government too. The strategy will have to work in that space where there is not necessarily a clear line between it, but what is clear is that there needs to be a lot more co-operation between the Government and private industry on improving overall security and resilience in this space. The strategy, potentially, has actions such as providing guidelines on how to better improve security and resilience in the face of new threats. There is, potentially, an opportunity to develop structured trusted networks in order that information can be shared in a trusted environment between industry and the Government. There may also be an opportunity to take part in exercises or to perform stress tests on this infrastructure to find out where the vulnerabilities are and how they can best be mitigated. I think there are lots of ways for the strategy to improve this interaction between the Government and industry.