14 April 2006
Senior officials from four Whitehall departments have been appointed to a new public-private steering group that will advise ministers on information security policies such as biometric passports and identity cards.
Civil servants from the Ministry of Defence, Home Office, Cabinet Office and Department of Trade and Industry will provide expert advice to the DTI-funded Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network, which will be launched officially on May 9.
Its aim is to improve cyber security across public and private sector organisations and boost economic competitiveness by establishing the UK as market leaders in such technology.
Qinetiq, the defence technology and security company, formerly part of the MoD, announced on April 10 that it would manage the cyber network.
Whitehall sources told Public Finance that the network would play an influential role in determining the direction of sensitive policies, such as Home Office plans to introduce a national ID card system, by outlining what can and can't be achieved through the use of technology.
It would also co-ordinate the use of new systems with potential private sector partners and beneficiaries.
Other public policies that will be assessed include the wide-ranging e-government initiative, e-borders programmes and the development of biometric data.
Whitehall departments will also be keen to develop systems to prevent the sort of identity fraud that the Department for Work and Pensions fell victim to last year, sources said.
The cyber network, which met to discuss its remit last week, will receive £1.8m in operational funding from the DTI over the next three years and will have access to a further £10m to develop ideas and commission research.
As well as experts from private firms – including BP, BT, British Airways, Microsoft and Visa – officials from government agencies such as the National Infrastructure Security
Co-ordination Centre will also inform the steering group, Qinetiq confirmed. Leading academics complete the membership.
'The CSKTN is as much about combating “everyday” cyber crime, such as identity fraud in the private sector, as it is about public policy,' a Qinetiq spokesman told PF.
'But there is obviously a lot of crossover between the systems and expertise involved in all cyber security issues, hence the need for a formal body that brings together all interested parties and co-ordinates responses.'
The appointed steering group, which will be chaired by Robert Ghanea-Hercock from BT, will be closed to other members, but other public organisations and businesses can float their ideas on cyber security by joining a secure on-line forum.
Lord Sainsbury, science and innovation minister, said: 'By providing a focus for collaboration and delivery, this CSKTN should… help in our collective goal of reducing cyber crime and making the digital economy a safer and more attractive proposition for investors.'
MoD deal signed after six years could cost £12bn
An £8bn Private Finance Initiative contract signed by Ministry of Defence officials is likely to cost taxpayers £12bn over the course of the 35-year deal, it has been estimated.
Carillion, the support services and construction company, calculates that total revenue for its joint venture deal to provide new accommodation and facilities management at army garrisons in Aldershot and Salisbury Plain will be £11.9bn.
The MoD revealed on April 7 that it had finally signed the Project Allenby/Connaught contract, its largest PFI deal to date, more than six years after the deal was first floated.
Carillion, which owns 50% of the joint venture firm Aspire, will team up with engineers KBR (45%) and banking group HSBC (5%) to build and manage the 200 MoD sites.
It will include a £1.2bn construction phase that will involve replacing 400 MoD buildings with 365 new structures to house 11,000 soldiers. All sites could be completed by 2016.
The services element of Aspire's contract is far bigger and will involve, among other things, the supply of 50,000 eggs and 20,000 bed-sheets every day to caterers and site managers. Office accommodation and staff leisure facilities, including theatres, are included in the deal, which will run until 2040.
The project has been financed through a series of bonds.
MoD literature released on April 7 estimates the cost of the deal at £8bn. But a spokeswoman for Carillion said that that failed to take account of inflation over the course of the contract.
'We expect the deal to total around £11.9bn, but it will represent £8bn at 2004 prices,' she told Public Finance.
PFapr2006
