Cyber security is growing in urgency and while district councils are smaller in scale, they cannot afford to be complacent as shown by last year's attack on Gloucester City Council – an attack that has now been linked to Russian hackers.

The launch of the UK's first Government Cyber Security Strategy suggests cyber security within local authorities is soon to come under greater scrutiny. Announcing the strategy, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minster for the Cabinet Office, Steve Barclay, said his priority was to ensure UK Government at all levels was more resilient to cyber attacks.

‘Our core government functions from the delivery of public services to the operation of National Security apparatus must be more resilient than ever before to cyber attacks. This aim accounts for all public service organisations – including across local government, and the health and education sectors – which in many cases are starting from a very low level of maturity,' he said. ‘By the very nature of their activities, some of these organisations regularly face more sustained, determined, and well-resourced attacks on them.'

A new Government Cyber Coordination Centre – a joint venture between the Government Security Group, the Central Digital and Data Office and the National Cyber Security Centre – will be created and £85m has been pledged to tackle the challenges facing councils, helping them build their cyber resilience and protect vital services and data.

A report by managed security services company Redscan, Disjointed and under-resourced: cyber security across UK councils, found county councils experienced three times (4.6 per organisation) more reportable data breaches in 2020 than their district counterparts (1.45 per organisation) but this does not mean smaller councils can relax. While larger councils may appear at greater risk, the recent hit on Gloucester City Council reinforces districts are far from immune.

iESE is proud to announce the creation of the Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCOE) which is due to launch at the District Councils' Network's annual conference in February. We believe the creation of the CCOE, which will represent a collaboration by UK public bodies underpinned by an advisory forum made up of some of the UK's best brains in cyber security, will help drive forward major advances in the level of cyber protection in our local authorities and the UK public sector.

We aim to make military grade support, products, training and advice available to the public sector by understanding what best-of-breed protection is and making this knowledge and these innovations available to procure simply at high street prices through our collective purchasing power. Essentially, the CCOE will offer a one stop shop to assist members throughout their cyber security journey from implementation and beyond.

It does not aim to replace other organisations, such as the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) but aims to give practical guidance on implementing cyber security advice and standards and will assist member bodies if things go wrong.

If you would like to hear more information about the CCOE, please contact: annabelle.atkin@iese.org.uk.

Dr Andrew Larner is chief executive of the Improvement & Efficiency Social Enterprise (iESE), which supports public sector transformation

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