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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has established criteria to assess progress on climate adaptation.

Defra actively monitors progress against the actions in the third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) through regular internal monitoring across government. The department is developing a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework to support the implementation of NAP3. Progress on adaptation is also assessed externally: by the end of April, the Climate Change Committee will publish its next biennial report on progress in adapting to climate change.

In addition, Defra working with other Government departments including the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, use the cross-government director level Climate Resilience Steering Board to ensure that climate adaptation is embedded into policy- and decision-making across government. The Board oversees strategic, cross-cutting climate adaptation and resilience issues to increase UK resilience to climate change

My department is exploring how to set out stronger objectives to drive action to increase our preparedness for the impacts of climate change up to and beyond the next National Adaptation Programme in 2028.