THE UK Government has “no real sense of the scale” of cyber security problems – and does not know how to tackle them, MPs and peers say.

A report released today says there is an “acute scarcity” of the skilled professionals needed to prevent a repeat of the WannaCry attack that hit the NHS in May last year.

Described as the biggest ransomware attack ever conducted, the incident saw computers and their files locked to users who had unwittingly opened emails containing malware.

Those affected were told to pay a ransom to regain access.

GP surgeries and hospitals were amongst those impacted in the UK, including systems on either side of the border.

The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) says the incident proves the threat to the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and, in a report released today, the cross-party body has challenged the government on its “lack of urgency” on what chair Margaret Beckett calls a “pressing matter of national security”.

The body is made up of peers and MPs and includes Baroness Martha Lane-Fox, founder of travel site lastminute.

The report is critical of the delay in delivering a digital skills strategy promised in November 2016.

It is not due until this December and the joint committee said the current lack of detail on skills gaps and sector shortages means the government can neither fully understand or address the issue.

Calling on ministers to “step forward and take the lead in developing a strategy to give drive and direction”, the report states: “It is of utmost importance to the UK’s national security that it has the capacity, now and in the future, to keep CNI services, systems and networks secure.”

Beckett commented: “There is a real problem with the availability of people skilled in cyber security but a worrying lack of focus from the government to address it.

“We’re not just talking about the ‘acute scarcity’ of technical experts which was reported to us, but also the much larger number of posts which require moderately specialist skills. We found little to reassure us that government has fully grasped the problem and is planning appropriately.”

She went on: “We acknowledge that the cyber security profession is relatively new and still evolving and that the pace of change in technology may well outstrip the development of academic qualifications.

“However, we are calling on government to work closely with industry and education to consider short-term demand as well as long-term planning. As a very first response, government must work in close partnership with the CNI sector and providers to create a cyber security skills strategy to give clarity and direction.

“It is a pressing matter of national security to do so.”

The Cabinet Office is responsible for the National Security Secretariat, which “provides coordination on security and intelligence issues of strategic importance across government”.

Responding to the report, a spokesperson for the department said: “The UK is one of the most secure places in the world to live and do business online and this government is committed to ensuring the UK has the cyber security talent it needs to further secure our growing digital economy and Critical National Infrastructure.

“We have a £1.9 billion National Cyber Security Strategy, opened the world-leading National Cyber Security Centre and continue to build on our cyber security knowledge, skills and capability.”