Hospitals and energy suppliers will boost their cyber defences under the bill, which will also ensure firms providing essential IT services to public services and the wider economy are no longer an easy target for cyber criminals. Around 1,000 service providers will fall into scope of measures expected to be introduced later this year.

Cyber threats cost the UK economy almost £22bn a year between 2015 and 2019 and cause significant disruption to the British public and businesses. Last summer's attack on Synnovis - a provider of pathology services to the NHS - cost an estimated £32.7m and saw thousands of missed appointments for patients.

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle, said: ‘Attempts to disrupt our way of life and attack our digital economy are only gathering pace, and we will not stand by as these incidents hold our future prosperity hostage.

‘The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, will help make the UK's digital economy one of the most secure in the world - giving us the power to protect our services, our supply chains, and our citizens – the first and most important job of any government.'

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, added: ‘Cyber attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and create real risks for our health service if we do not act now to put the right protections in place.

‘We are building an NHS that is fit for the future. This bill will boost the NHS's resilience against cyber threats, secure sensitive patient data and make sure life-saving appointments are not missed as we deliver our Plan for Change.'

The government is also exploring additional measures to make sure it can respond effectively to new cyber threats and take rapid action where needed to protect the UK's national security. This includes giving the technology secretary powers to direct regulated organisations to shore up their cyber defence.

Another potential avenue may include new protections for more than 200 data centres. 

The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will be introduced to Parliament later this year.