Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support the cold chain sector with (a) resilience and (b) preparedness for potential disruption as a result of (i) heat waves, (ii) power loss and (iii) cyberattack.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) works with other departments and industry to proactively mitigate the risks and impacts of unplanned power outages, cyber-attacks, and severe weather events like heatwaves, through ongoing horizon-scanning, data sharing, and business engagement.

As part of the next UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), Government departments are inputting into an assessment of the resilience of the cold chain sector to rising temperatures and heatwaves. The assessment will identify cold chain vulnerabilities to heatwaves, explore adaptation responses, and develop an effective adaptation plan through to 2050. The outputs will be included in the next CCRA, to be published in 2027.