Oral Answers to Questions

Dan Jarvis Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Graeme Downie (Dunfermline and Dollar) (Lab)]

10. What steps her Department is taking to improve national resilience.

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

This Government are strengthening our national resilience so that we are better prepared for threats like extreme weather, cyber-attacks or another pandemic. We are implementing the resilience action plan; we have published a new pandemic preparedness strategy; we are updating what we call the “war books”, with a home defence exercise planned next year; and we will run a public awareness campaign later this year on how households can prepare for emergencies like severe weather.

[Martin Rhodes]

In order for us to have national resilience, we must have a network of local services that have local knowledge, local experience and are based in local communities. That should include well-funded local fire and rescue services that can keep response times low and communities safe. Does the Minister agree with me and the Scottish Fire Brigades Union that the Scottish Government should reverse their cuts to fire and rescue services and stop the planned closure of Yorkhill fire station in my constituency, to avoid undermining the resilience of local communities and our preparedness for emerging risks?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising those important points. I understand the concern that the closure of any fire and rescue station brings to people. We have seen in recent weeks, with widespread wildfires, just how crucial fire and rescue services have been to saving lives and keeping the public safe. Decisions on fire services in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government, but we have given them a record level of funding, with the biggest block grant in the history of devolution.

[Chris Vince]

I welcome the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead Central and Whickham (Mark Ferguson), to his rightful place on the Front Bench. As Ministers may be aware, in late July there was a severe wildfire off Second Avenue in Harlow; I thank the fire services and fire officers who attended and dealt with the issue so well. What is the Minister doing to increase awareness of fires starting, particularly in the dry weather, which is likely to continue next year as well?

[Dan Jarvis]

Let me take the opportunity to pay tribute to the tireless efforts of fire and rescue services across the country, including in my hon. Friend’s Harlow constituency over the summer. As the House will know, the Government issued an emergency alert to advise people of the steps they should take to avoid inadvertently contributing to already widespread fires. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is exploring ways to expand its “Fire Kills” campaign to deliver targeted messages and resources to the public.

[Graeme Downie]

As the Minister says, the UK is facing a growing range of threats for which people and businesses are not fully prepared, including climate change, cyber-attacks by hostile states and organised misinformation. Recent incidents in Germany, including attacks on energy infrastructure and the attempted airport bombing in Leipzig, which has been linked to the Russian state, highlight the seriousness of these risks. Given the breadth of these challenges, a whole-of-Government approach is required to inform and prepare the public. What steps is the Minister taking to co-ordinate that work and provide clear public guidance? Has he engaged with countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Taiwan on how they have built their public resilience through increased and honest information?

[Dan Jarvis]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. I recently visited Estonia to sign a landmark defence road map, designed to deepen military co-operation and modernise allied forces. Likewise, we regularly engage with our partners to learn about not only what they have done, but crucially what has actually worked to build public resilience. We are using that insight to develop a campaign tailored to the needs and strengths of the United Kingdom, bringing us closer in line with our international partners, most of whom do this regularly.

[Freddie van Mierlo (Henley and Thame) (LD)]

Over the summer, I met two fire resilience experts in my constituency, who have experience of fires in California. They told me that simple measures taken locally can have a significant impact, including things like clearing vegetation around a house and making sure that there are no log piles next to a home. That can all be done through parish councils and local resilience planning, so what steps will the Minister take to support parish councils as they develop local resilience?

[Dan Jarvis]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the point in the way that he does. The resilience action plan details how we will better integrate the voluntary, community and faith sectors into planning, and I would include parish councils within that. It will also enable us to test new structures for leadership, and provide accountability and assurance through the stronger local resilience forum trailblazers programme. I acknowledge and agree with the point that he made, and I am happy to discuss it with him further.

[Danny Kruger (East Wiltshire) (Reform)]

Resilience is obviously the crucial question for the country, and the Government are right to be focusing on the need to strengthen the centre of Government to achieve that. My concern is about the legislation that has been trailed. According to a leak—presumably from a briefing from the Cabinet Office—reported in The Times this week, the Cabinet Secretary is proposing to take new powers to direct permanent secretaries of Government Departments. Will the Minister confirm whether legislation is planned to change the statutory basis of the civil service? Most importantly, does he think that the Cabinet Secretary should or should not have the power to direct permanent secretaries?

[Dan Jarvis]

I gently advise the hon. Member, as I am sure he is aware, not to believe everything that he reads in the newspapers. However, I hope that he and the House would approve of the fact that this Government, with a new Prime Minister and new First Secretary of State, will want to look very carefully at the structures of the civil service and ensure that they are delivering for the priorities of this Government.

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

After a winter of torrential rain and a summer without any rain, residents in Mid Sussex are incredibly concerned about the impact of drought and flooding, and among those residents are our farmers. Yesterday was Back British Farming Day and I spoke to Caroline, a West Sussex farmer, who is really concerned about their capacity to grow the food that we all need to eat. Will the Government make better use of water storage capacity available on British farms, including by removing planning and funding barriers to on-farm reservoirs as part of their approach to building national resilience?

[Dan Jarvis]

The hon. Lady is right to raise those important points. Food security is national security, and this Government will always back our farmers. This Government, and Government Departments, stand ready to respond to natural hazard risks such as drought, flooding, severe storms and extreme temperatures. The Cobra directorate in the Cabinet Office works in partnership with departmental policy teams and public entities to ensure that our response is proportionate to the nature of the climate threat that we face.

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

3. What recent discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on the future EU-UK relationship.

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[Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)]

13. What plans she has to help ensure community resilience to severe weather incidents.

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

Climate change brings an increased risk of severe weather. We are learning from the summer droughts and planning for what will likely be a challenging winter. As I saw when I visited the hon. Member’s St Ives constituency back in January, extreme weather can cause disruption to the essential services that we all rely on. We are working to make public infrastructure, such as telecoms, more resilient. We will also launch a public awareness campaign this year, so that people know the small but important steps they can take to be ready for emergencies such as severe weather.

[Andrew George]

I am grateful to the Minister for that response. As he said, he kindly visited my constituency shortly after the significant devastation that was caused to west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly following Storm Goretti in early January this year. In his letter to me shortly thereafter, he committed to a comprehensive review of the response to the storm, to ensure that lessons are learned and that preparedness and response plans are improved. In what way have those plans improved? Given that communities are now preparing themselves to improve their own resilience—we are bringing them together this autumn—would he be prepared to visit west Cornwall again and meet my communities?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for consistently and constructively raising those points. Having visited his constituency and seen the devastation at first hand, I am personally extremely keen to ensure that we learn the lessons from what happened during Storm Goretti. As the hon. Gentleman will know, Cobra officials have worked closely with Cornwall council on resilience planning. We are going to launch a public awareness campaign that will support people in Cornwall and beyond during future emergencies. I am also pleased to say that the hon. Gentleman’s constituency is receiving over £2 million this financial year to tackle flooding. He kindly invites me to visit his constituency, so I say to him: time spent in Cornwall is time well spent.

[Julia Buckley (Shrewsbury) (Lab)]

Water privatisation and climate change have left us with the twin resilience challenges of water scarcity and flooding. To reduce demand on our drinking water supply, is the Cabinet Office looking at the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s landmark report from March, which sets out a governance framework for rainwater harvesting? Could we look at installing rainwater collection for toilet flushing in our publicly owned buildings? We could cut our costs, increase our resilience and make steps towards sustainability.

[Dan Jarvis]

My hon. Friend raises an important point, and I will look closely at the report she references and ensure that we are discussing it with colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

[Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)]

Flooding during severe weather incidents is often predictable, because those same areas suffer from low-level regular flooding throughout the rest of the year. The issue affects multi-council areas, up and downstream, and covers multiple Government agencies. Bodies such as flooding boards that cover those areas are a great way of co-ordinating agencies and councils, but we do not have them across the whole UK. Would the Minister consider rolling out flood boards in every part of the UK?

[Dan Jarvis]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. I am proud to say that I think I was the first metro mayor to launch a catchment flood management plan. I recognise the importance his point, and I want to give it due consideration. I will consult with ministerial colleagues at DEFRA and come back to him.

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

Returning to the topic of Cornwall, the Minister mentioned the possibility that Cornwall could be a pilot area for storm resilience measures, so it would be good to hear more about that. Measures to raise awareness would be very welcome, and guidelines for how people in Cornwall should act—on an individual, a local emergency plan, a council and a unitary level—would be useful going forward. Could the Minister say more about that?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her championing of not only her own constituency, but wider issues relating to infrastructure and resilience in Cornwall. The Prime Minister has committed to meet with Cornish MPs. I will carefully consider her points, along with those made by the hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George)—I get a sense that I am going to be heading back to Cornwall.

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[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

19. What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the emergency alert system.

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

The first duty of any Government is to keep people safe. Our recent decision to issue an alert was made in direct co-operation with the National Fire Chiefs Council at a time when emergency services were facing unprecedented pressure, with 43 active fires and four major incidents. Evidence from the 72 hours following the alert indicates that this intervention was effective, with a measurable reduction in new wildfire incidents.

[Helen Morgan]

In North Shropshire, we are on the border with Wales and have poor to non-existent mobile phone signal. This meant that many of my constituents received the emergency alert in Welsh first and either did not receive it in English at all, or received it in English many hours later. Because there was no pre-briefing, they were concerned to receive an emergency alert that they could not understand. Would the Minister consider pre-briefing when an alert is going to happen in future so that when people get an alert in a different language, or if people are trying to keep their phones secret because they are vulnerable, they have time to prepare for that and are not unduly alarmed?

[Dan Jarvis]

The hon. Lady makes an entirely reasonable point. I hope that she would acknowledge that we look very carefully when an alert has been issued and seek to learn lessons from that. I can tell her that all emergency alerts are sent in conjunction with local partners, and that in Wales the alert was sent first in Welsh, and then in English, in order to fulfil our legal responsibilities under the Welsh Language Act 1993. I will look carefully at what she has said, and I assure her that we will seek to learn lessons from the way in which the alert was issued.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)]

21. What steps she is taking to help ensure small businesses have improved access to Government contracts.

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[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

Last week, Channel 4 showed senior figures from Reform UK discussing how money from an American donor could reach the party through his UK-based son. Do the Government agree that covert overseas finance represents a clear and present threat to our national security? Do they accept that measures in the Representation of the People Bill do not go far enough when it comes to stopping foreign money being funnelled into our democracy and that the best way to reduce the options for those who seek to exert undue influence through big money is to put a cap on all political donations?

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for the important points that she raises and for the constructive conversations that we have had about these matters. She will note the work of the Rycroft review, and I know that she understands the important work we do through the defending democracy taskforce. As the chair of that taskforce, I have always believed that this is a shared endeavour across the House.

We will assemble a new cross-Government task-and-finish team to identify next steps for tackling the issue of megadonors in UK politics and putting politics under public control. Many hon. Members will have seen the programme to which the hon. Lady refers and will share her concerns. She will understand that there is now a live police investigation, so there is nothing more I can say about it.

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

T8. I welcomed the announcement that the First Secretary of State and the Prime Minister made over the summer on reforming procurement to benefit British businesses. On my summer tour of my constituency, I met large groups of local farmers, who have seen previous procurement reforms not quite benefit farmers as they would have liked. I visit farms in Northumberland, unlike my predecessors, so will the Minister join me on a visit to a local farm to discuss how procurement can benefit British farmers?

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[Alex Brewer (North East Hampshire) (LD)]

T7. Most fire responders in North East Hampshire are volunteers. After an unprecedented summer of wildfires, including in my constituency, will the Minister meet me and fire volunteers to hear about the pressures on the fire service at first hand?

[Dan Jarvis]

I would be delighted to do so.

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[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

Returning to the emergency alerts, what assessment has the Secretary of State made of issuing alerts on a regional or county basis for important but more local emergencies, such as bluetongue outbreaks in cattle and sheep in rural areas?

[Dan Jarvis]

I hope that the hon. Member heard my earlier response about how seriously we take the issuing of the alert, and how we take considerable effort to look carefully at how it has worked and whether it can be improved in future. I say to her that every emergency alert is carefully co-ordinated with the responding public bodies and agencies, and each request is evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure that it is necessary for public safety.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I am sorry to return to Capita, but I may have a solution. My constituent John is retiring partly due to ill health and his salary is now at half level—he is really struggling. He explained to me that under the current system a retirement date must be selected four months in advance, and if the delay goes one day past that, rather than amending the figures, the system has to start all over again. My suggestion is that we make a slight tweak so that we save Capita a lot of work and our residents a lot of heartache. Will the Minister comment on that and pick up my constituent’s case?

[Dr Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

The next national adaptation programme, NAP4, is not due until 2028, but the wildfires and droughts we saw this summer and the impending extreme El Niño show that we cannot wait that long. Will the Minister commit to taking urgent action to tackle resilience before then and give our farmers, communities and householders the support they need to face the challenges of drought, wildfire and flood risk?

[Dan Jarvis]

I completely recognise the importance of the point that the hon. Lady has made; she has made it previously. The Government have established and tested response protocols in place for all severe weather events. The impact of each is often very different based on different factors, but I give her an assurance of the seriousness with which we take these issues. We are working across Government to ensure that our response is proportionate to the nature of the threat we face from climate change.