Harriett Baldwin MP today welcomed news that more than £100m will be allocated to help small cyber businesses to defend the UK. Security services chiefs at GCHQ in Cheltenham will allocate a quarter of its £450m budget to support small hi-tech businesses to improve our resilience from cyber attack. Official figures reveal that cyber fraud cost the UK £27 billion annually and the Government has allocated £650 million to improve our cyber defences. More than a dozen small businesses are now based in the UK’s cyber valley stretching from Hereford along the Malvern Hills to Cheltenham. Harriett welcomed the investment and applauded the efforts of local companies to work together in this important business sector. She commented: “There are a number of important cyber businesses which have set up in and around Malvern. “I have been encouraging them to talk to each other and work together in this nationally important task. “Last year, we all met together and lobbied the Home Office to support our local cyber entrepreneurs. “I am pleased that the Government has committed to spending a good proportion of its cyber defence budget on small projects and I will lobby directly to make sure local companies get a share of this fund.”