El Niño: Impact

Baroness Curran Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is right that each crisis moment is different and that we need to ensure that we have strong foundations, which I believe we do as a country in our resilience planning. COBRA is a very effective co-ordinating tool to make sure that we know that we are on top of all those challenges and that we can make assessments as and when required in this space.

[Baroness Curran (Lab)]

My noble friend the Minister is clearly aware of the urgency of this situation and the demands across government that we must respond to it. The sector is now increasingly asking government to adopt a whole-of-government approach to develop a more resilient society. What thinking is taking place in government to ensure that we prioritise national resilience in the face of these weather systems? Is there a need for a more centralised approach to give more leadership to develop that resilient society?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My noble friend is right, which is why the severe weather resilience network exists. It is led by COBRA and includes Defra, MHCLG, the Department of Health, DCMS, the Department for Education, DESNZ, DSIT, the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, UKHSA and the devolved Governments, who meet and co-ordinate a response to any and all severe weather events. As the noble Baroness from the Opposition Benches stated, there are no borders in this space, especially with regards to weather, so making sure that the devolved Governments and the devolved space also have a co-ordinated response is key. I am really hoping someone asks me about the weather for the weekend because I can tell the House.