Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps are being taken to support (a) local resilience and (b) emergency planning arrangements in response to cold weather conditions in (i) Surrey and (ii) Surrey Heath constituency.

Surrey's Local Resilience Forum (LRF) is well versed in preparing for, responding to and recovering from emergencies including severe weather events. The LRF has plans in place to enable them to respond effectively to severe weather events including periods of cold weather, recognised as high-risk events in their 2025-2026 Community Risk Register. MHCLG support Surrey LRF through a Strategic Resilience Advisor who gives critical support and guidance to the LRFs core business.

Additionally, when UKHSA issue cold health alerts MHCLG encourages Local Authorities to initiate the policies and procedures associated with the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol. alongside MHCLG’s Night Shelter Operating Principles, for safe street night shelter provision.

The £547 million committed through the Rough Sleeping Initiative to local authorities across England from April 2022 to March 2025 includes support for local area winter planning. A further £10 million was allocated to local authorities through the Rough Sleeping Winter Pressure funding for 2024/25. Allocations can be found on gov.uk here.