Emergency Alert Service

Viscount Stansgate Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I will feed that point back to the department, but I did not say there will not be further testing. I said that one is not scheduled currently, but the point was very well made.

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, I do not know whether the House is aware that there is increasing scientific interest in the effect of heat on human beings. We are living in a world that is getting hotter, and recent studies such as that produced by the Physiological Society indicate that measures will need to be taken. Will my noble friend the Minister undertake to ensure that this Cabinet sub-committee considers the question of heat resilience and whether emergency responses of the kind we have been discussing in this exchange can be applied to situations where heat is the issue, rather than some other cause?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

My noble friend rightly highlights the danger of heat in terms of its potential impact on the public. As he and other noble Lords will be aware, the summer of 2022 saw the highest ever recorded temperature in the UK. The capability was not in use at the time, but this is an example of the type of event in which an alert would be considered. More recent summers have been somewhat milder, but this is the type of incident that would be appropriate for the use of emergency alerts.