Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 20 April 2022.
Keith Brown
Scottish National Party
As Martin Whitfield would expect, there has been substantial discussion with the UK Government and very good collaboration.
We have invested an additional £1.5 million to set up the centre that I mentioned, and that is on top of the £1.16 million that we will invest in furthering the vision of the strategic framework for a cyber resilient Scotland.
That investment is building on what is being done with the UK Government in collaboration. That work has to be done in collaboration, because many of the powers are reserved, so it makes sense to do that. There is a very effective relationship.
Martin Whitfield mentioned the attack on SEPA. There have also been attacks on public authorities in Ireland. That is a big concern for the Scottish Government, so we are ensuring that our public authorities are as secure as they can be. Much of the Government’s work in that regard is led by the Deputy First Minister. We take the matter extremely seriously, and I assure the member that there is a very effective relationship with the UK Government on the issue.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
