The UK government set aside a total of £1.3 million to boost cyber-defence innovation and provide upskilling initiatives across the country, as well as implementing new data protection measures.

In an announcement, the government explained the cash will be made available for universities, local councils and enterprises to roll out cybersecurity training schemes and to develop new innovations in cyber defence.

Grants of up to £150,000 will be awarded, with the programme arranged by government agency Innovate UK.

A separate initiative was also launched “to find the best young cyber talent” to represent the UK on the global stage.

Rollout of the schemes comes as the government last week decided to classify data centres as critical national infrastructure, a step expected to prevent any form of sensitive data including NHS records and financial information from being compromised during outages, attacks or adverse weather events.

Citing figures from a recent survey, the government stated “44 per cent of UK businesses do not have the fundamental skills to protect themselves from cyber-attacks” and the new programme is designed to help address this.

The UK is hosting a cybersecurity conference this week, attended by the US, European Union member states, Canada and Japan.

Feryal Clark, Under-Secretary of State for AI and Digital Government whose remit includes cybersecurity, described cybercrime as “a shared challenge”, adding it brings together “global allies to discuss and agree steps to keep us safe online, improve cyber skills and protect our economy and public services”.