Jamaica: Hurricane Melissa

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Excerpts

Wednesday 29th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

The point about the increased frequency and severity of these extreme weather events is really important, particularly as we approach COP. I know that leaders in the Caribbean and elsewhere want to see UK leadership continue to address that. We work alongside Governments across the Caribbean—and I have to say that Jamaica takes a lead in much of this—with CARIF and with the work that we are doing on finance, particularly on insurance, as I said earlier, making sure that countries are able to take out insurance. We have supported the payment of premiums and the negotiation of policies that will pay out very quickly, within weeks of an extreme weather event, so that there is no need to do all the usual assessment and all the rest, and so that when a weather event is triggered, that money gets to where it is needed as quickly as possible. I saw that in Grenada, where farmers were able to rebuild very quickly, within the season, to enable them to support themselves and continue with their livelihoods. These things are the consequence of long-term partnerships, and I thank my noble and learned friend for the work that she has done to make this possible over the years.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I was the Minister when Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit, and I am pleased with and support the Government’s response, particularly the military response, but I want to go to the medium and long term. I pay tribute to the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Scotland, for the work she did in co-ordination with the Commonwealth. What co-ordination is there currently with the emergency response, CDEMA, across the region? Secondly, the previous Government set up the Caribbean infrastructure fund for the long-term development that is needed. That winds down in 2026, but it was set up exactly to help build the infrastructure that is needed across the Caribbean.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I compliment the work of CDEMA because it is crucial when these things happen to have a locally co-ordinated response. CDEMA understands the routes between islands, it understands the community, it has very strong connections and it knows how to get things done far more quickly than any multilateral international agency just showing up would, so I echo what the noble Lord says about that. We will continue to work with our partners internationally as this unfolds and we are able to assess exactly what is needed, but it is vital that the Government of Jamaica are in charge of this: they know what is needed and are able to hold the ring on this. They are more than capable of doing that, and we will work closely with them.

On the issue the noble Lord raised about the Caribbean fund, I am looking closely at the moment at our allocations for the next few years, very conscious of the impact that that resilience funding, as I think of it, has been able to achieve so far. That is one of the reasons why hopefully the infrastructure in the region will be able to withstand these events far better—maybe not completely, but better than it has been able to in the past. I will keep that in mind.