Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on ensuring transport provision in areas affected by storms.

Under the UK Government’s Lead Government Department (LGD) model, the responsibility for severe storms and weather in England rests with the following organisations:

• Risk Identification and Assessment: The Met Office.
• Prevention/Resilience, Preparation and Emergency Response: The Cabinet Office (where the impacts are expected to be cross-cutting), DfT for Air, Rail, Roads and Ports and Defra for flooding.
• Recovery: DfT for Air, Rail, Roads and Ports. MHCLG for flooding.

Further detail can be found here: The Roles of Lead Government Departments, Devolved Administrations and Other Public Bodies (HTML) - GOV.UK

Designated LGDs are responsible for leading work to identify serious risks and ensuring that the right planning, response and recovery arrangements are in place for their responsibilities. This includes if their sector is designated as a Critical National Infrastructure Sector (CNI), which Transport is.

Since the start of the current UK Storm Season on 1 September 2024, Defra has worked with DfT on the following:

• An exercise of the National Flood Response Centre.
• The operational response to flooding from caused by heavy rainfall September as well as named storms Ashley, Bert, Connall and Darragh.
• Reporting on damaged flood defences that could affect the operation of key transport infrastructure.

We hold monthly calls with DfT officials to share situational awareness and do these more frequently when the need arises. More detail on specific work undertaken by DfT and the Transport Sector on transport provision in areas affected by storms should be requested directly from DfT.