Strengthening Community Resilience

Alex Ballinger Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

The hon. Member makes an important point. Communication is key. I know he will understand that I was responding to a specific point about where a particularly capability had been lost and how it could be restored as quickly as possible, but I take his point about areas that do not have connectivity in the first place. I am sure that that is a conversation we want to have across Government, to look at what more we can do, working with colleagues in DCMS, but let me take that away and I will come back to him with some further thoughts.

[Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)]

I welcome the Government’s serious approach to civil preparedness. I want to push back slightly against some Members on the Opposition Benches who implied that there was a difference between being prepared for natural disasters and for some of the hybrid attacks we are seeing across Europe. In recent months we have seen attacks against energy infrastructure, railways and supply chains; the same preparations will help folk in the UK be prepared for both those attacks and natural disasters. I was in the Finnish embassy a few days ago to talk about that issue. As other colleagues have mentioned, in Finland they talk about businesses working together with the voluntary sector and public bodies. Will the Minister say more about how we are learning from countries such as Finland on the whole of society working together?

[Dan Jarvis]

We are determined to learn lessons from our neighbours, and Finland, which has been mentioned previously, is a good example of that. My hon. Friend will understand that this campaign brings the UK into line with many other countries across Europe and further afield. It builds on the existing guidance that has already been published on gov.uk. My hon. Friend makes another important point, which is that the actions that people take in their own households to be ready for one emergency can also help in the context of other emergencies.