Strengthening Community Resilience

Pete Wishart Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about engaging businesses. We are certainly doing that. We are also working closely with our allies, including the countries to which he referred. Trust is important. The polling we have done shows that 84% of the public expect the Government to provide this information and only 13% of households think that they are properly prepared. It is important that we establish that honest conversation with the public to give them good, common-sense, practical advice that will make them more resilient in their own households. That is what we are doing.

[Pete Wishart (Perth and Kinross-shire) (SNP)]

The area I represent has the biggest river system in the UK and some of the most inclement weather in the UK, so my constituents and I are fully familiar with being prepared and being ready for what could possibly come. What I struggle with a little bit is the other stuff in the statement. I am baffled by the lumping together of storm readiness and other undefined threats that cannot be properly outlined in name. Does the Minister not agree that storms and weather events are critical known stand-alone threats, and that there should be distinct and separate strategies for them? Lumping them together with national security, subsea cables and cyber-threats is confusing and perhaps even unhelpful to people who just want to be prepared.

[Dan Jarvis]

Let me say to the hon. Gentleman how much importance we attach to doing this right around the United Kingdom. This is a UK-wide campaign and we have worked closely with partners in the devolved Governments to ensure that it can be as simple and as joined up as possible. The relationship with colleagues in Scotland is a really important one, not least because of the challenges he alluded to. I hope he will see that this is the beginning of a campaign. Fundamentally, we want to engage the public about simple measures they can take in their own lives. This is a first step. I hope he will join with us and support it.