Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what work the Horizon Scanning Programme has undertaken on the implications for environmental security of (a) an accident at a nuclear facility involving a large release of radiation and (b) the sabotage of a nuclear facility or nuclear cargo in transit by a terrorist group.

The Horizon Scanning Programme has investigated emerging technologies, emerging economies, the changing supply and demand of resources, changing social attitudes of young people, and the future of demographic change in the UK. The Programme continues to draw on observations from these areas alongside exploring potential new areas of investigation, which include the future of work, regulation and rural communities.

The Horizon Scanning Programme has not examined the implications for environmental security in regards to nuclear facilities and does not plan to do so in the future. The risks posed in the question are however considered as part of the National Risk Assessment process.