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Effective security is central to how we handle many of the challenges facing Government. It is vital for public confidence and for the efficient, effective and safe conduct of public business.
Responsibility for security is delegated down from the Prime Minister and Cabinet to me, as Head of the Home Civil Service and chairman of the Official Committee on Security, and then to Heads of Department. Ultimately, however, security is the responsibility of everyone and our policies and processes will only work well if we all play our part.
The new Security Policy Framework replaces the Manual of Protective Security and the Counter-Terrorist Protective Security Manual. It sets out universal mandatory standards, as well as offering guidance on risk management and defining new compliance and assurance arrangements. For the first time the framework allows for much of this material to be placed in the public domain, allowing greater access, increasing awareness, transparency and sharing good practice.
The framework introduces changes in the way we do things, as part of our broader agenda to modernise and transform Government. Work to modernise security policy and processes will continue: to raise awareness, ensure that guidance is up to date, that policy reflects changes in threat and circumstance, and that Departments are supported from the centre.
I am confident that this framework will enable Government to do its job better and I commend it to all in the public service.
Gus O’Donnell