Government Departments: Weather

(asked on 7th December 2022) - View Source

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any cross-departmental (a) meetings and (b) other discussions on the UK's preparedness for cold weather during winter 2022-23 have taken place in the last six months.


Answered by
Jeremy Quin Portrait
Jeremy Quin
This question was answered on 12th December 2022

As the coordinating department for severe weather events, the Cabinet Office undertakes a well-established programme of seasonal weather preparedness with departments and relevant agencies.

Preparation for Winter 2022-23 began in August with the revision of the relevant centrally-held cross-government severe weather response protocol, iterated in light of lessons learned from previous events (e.g. Storm Eunice) and other relevant developments (e.g. the formation of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)). The classified central protocol is co-owned by the Cabinet Office, the Met Office and UKHSA and aligns with the publicly available Cold Weather Plan for England (2022-23), published annually since 2011.

The relevant protocols are exercised every year and disseminated within the response community to ensure coordinated preparedness for winter weather risks and a coherent response should severe weather materialise.

The Cabinet Office remains in regular contact with UKHSA and the Met Office on possible deteriorating weather forecasts and to understand concurrent risks that may require adjustment of thresholds for a centrally-led government response.

UKHSA Cold Health Alerts and the Met Office National Severe Weather Warnings are issued for low temperatures and wintry hazards (respectively) - as is currently the case - sitting alongside targeted public communications outlined in the central protocol.

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