Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the heatwave in the UK on 18 and 19 July 2022, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the UK is prepared for future heatwaves.

In a statement to the House at the time of the heatwave, CDL (then Kit Malthouse) noted that ‘although Britain may be unaccustomed to such high temperatures [reaching 40c], the UK, along with our European neighbours must learn to live with extreme events such as these.’

In response to this statement, the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, now the COBR Unit, commissioned all key delivery partners to submit lessons learned from responding to the heatwave as part of the continuous improvement process. A series of recommendations were designed to embed these reflections into working practices and make future responses to extreme heat more effective.

Central government departments and partner agencies are implementing these actions over the winter and autumn period to improve our resilience to severe summer and winter weather events.