Professor Tim Watson, Director of WMG’s Cyber Security Centre, has shared his expertise in the House of Lords Select Committee on Risk Assessment and Risk Planning report entitled ‘Preparing for Extreme Risks: Building a Resilient Society.’

Professor Watson gave evidence to the panel which was used to shape the report published on Friday 3^rd December.

The Committee was appointed in October 2020 to "consider risk assessment and risk planning in the context of disruptive national hazards". Following 29 oral evidence sessions with 85 witnesses and 90 written submissions, the Committee concluded that the UK must be better at anticipating, preparing for and responding to a range of challenging risk scenarios, including those which it has never experienced before.

The report emphasises that the Government's current strategy of centralised and opaque risk assessment and risk management, which fails to make adequate preparations, has left the UK vulnerable.

The Chair of the Committee, Lord Arbuthnot, said: "Our inquiry has concluded that the UK must adopt a whole of society approach to resilience, one which emphasises the important role played by all sections of society in preparing for, adapting to and recovering from the effects of risk. Risk and resilience are not solely the concern of central Government policymakers, and since they have the capacity to alter the lives of everyone in the country, everyone needs to be involved in shaping the response to the risks that we face."

Read the report in full here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5802/ldselect/ldrisk/110/11002.htm