Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which this year’s sustained period of dry weather is a symptom of climate change; and whether they will discuss climate change with the President of the United States during his visit to the UK.

The 2017 Climate Change Risk Assessment projects that the likelihood of hotter and drier summers in the UK will increase with climate change and that heatwave events such as in 2003 are projected to become the norm in the UK by the 2040s. It is not yet possible, however, to say to what extent the recent period of warm and dry weather has been affected by human influence on the climate until a full scientific study has been carried out. This study will be carried out by the Met Office Hadley Centre, as part of the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme, once the full context of the current warm spell is clear. It is expected to report in the autumn.

My rt.hon. Friend the Prime Minister will discuss a number of issues with the President of the United States during his visit to the UK. The Prime Minister has raised the issue of climate change with the President of the United States previously. She has been clear that she believes the Paris Agreement is the right global framework for tackling climate change.