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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of demographic decline in rural areas on long-term climate adaptation needs for remote communities.

Defra publishes statistics on rural population trends in The Statistical Digest for Rural England.

Defra prepares a Climate Change Risk Assessment every five years which considers the key risks that relate to both rural and urban areas. It’s followed by a National Adaptation Programme (NAP), setting out actions by relevant government departments to address the risks identified in the latest risk assessment. The NAP is focussed on England with the exception of issues that are reserved and relate to the UK more broadly like international climate risks.