National Security Bill - Committee Stage Briefing

05 January 2023

The Russell Group welcomes the objectives of the National Security Bill, and our members take their responsibilities to protect national security seriously. We work closely with the Government and security agencies to ensure existing safeguards and oversight are used effectively.   

However we believe the proposed Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) must complement existing protections and avoid introducing duplicative and bureaucratic requirements, which would divert resource from focusing on genuine threats.

The National Security Bill is currently going through legislative scrutiny in the House of Lords and amendments to the bill are due to be debated in January 2023. The Russell Group and our members support several of the proposed amendments that have been tabled, which includes providing specific HE guidance for the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme and an exemption for higher education activity that is already registered via existing legislation. 

The following briefing provides more detail on those amendments and why we think they will help to ensure new measures add genuine protection the wide-ranging systems already in place.

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