Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement (1) air raid sirens, or (2) civil defence systems, in the UK to provide an early warning signal for a nuclear attack.

The Government does not plan to implement air raid sirens to provide an early warning signal for nuclear attack. Since April 1969, the Royal Navy has maintained continuous at sea deterrence, with at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine patrolling the seas undetected at all times, ready to respond to the most extreme threats to the UK, should they materialise.

The Government is committed to ensuring the public receive advice about the risks to them and the actions they can take. As part of broad emergency response capabilities, arrangements are in place to warn and inform the public that an emergency has, or is about to, occur and the steps they should take in response. This is a locally based approach, supported as necessary, by national messaging from central government using a range of channels, including social and broadcast media. The Government has announced its intention to augment these existing arrangements with the launch of a mobile phone based emergency alerting system later this year.