Committee publication · Correspondence · 17 March 2026
Correspondence from Climate Vision Regarding the Debate: “Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience”, dated 11 March 2026
Summary
Climate Vision practitioner Luci Isaacson writes to MPs following a 10 March 2026 parliamentary debate on extreme weather resilience, commending Jayne Kirkham MP for leading the discussion. Isaacson urges MPs to table parliamentary questions on the underused Adaptation Reporting Power under the Climate Change Act 2008, arguing mandatory use would increase transparency on UK infrastructure preparedness for climate risks.
Key findings
- The Adaptation Reporting Power, designed to require critical infrastructure providers to report on climate risk preparation, has only once been used as originally intended since establishment under the Climate Change Act 2008
- Debate highlighted need for coordinated cross-government climate resilience strategy shifting from reactive to preventive approach, as articulated by Rachel Gilmour MP
- Rural and coastal regions face specific vulnerabilities: Cornwall's six constituencies rank lowest for mobile connectivity; Valentine's Day 2014 storm caused £60 million–£1.2 billion losses and eight-week isolation
- Cultural barriers within institutions sometimes prioritise reassurance to ministers over honest assessment of climate preparedness on the ground, per Andrew George MP's observation
- Household-level preparedness, including emergency kits and heat/flood planning, identified as critical complementary measure alongside infrastructure investment
Tone
SupportiveTopics
climate-resiliencecritical-infrastructuredisaster-preparednessfloodingrural-communities
Key actors
Luci Isaacson, Jayne Kirkham MP, Rachel Gilmour MP, Andrew George MP, Tessa Munt MP, Perran Moon MP, Dan Jarvis MP, Climate Vision
Notable line
“… the culture that exists among service providers, and indeed Government Departments, of always seeking to reassure Ministers that everything is under control and presenting a very different picture from the one that I was seeing on the ground.”
Key Quotes
“… an ongoing inquiry into climate and weather resilience.”
“… to embed a truly comprehensive climate resilience strategy across all Government Departments and agencies at the heart of decision making -one that shifts our posture as much as possible from reaction to prevention.”
“… the culture that exists among service providers, and indeed Government Departments, of always seeking to reassure Ministers that everything is under control and presenting a very different picture from the one that I was seeing on the ground.”
“… what we need is for the pumps to be there already, so that they can start to pump water away as the storms come in.”
“… all six Cornish constituencies appear at the bottom of the rankings in terms of mobile connectivity,”
“… there is a conversation to be had about personal resilience. We all need to be more prepared. Having a basic emergency kit sounds simple, but it makes a big difference.”
“Given that the Climate Change Act 2008 established the Adaptation Reporting Power to assess how well critical infrastructure is preparing for climate risks, and noting that it has only once been used as originally intended, will the Government now commit to exercising this power on a mandatory basis to ensure Parliament has a complete and transparent picture of the UK's resilience to climate impacts?”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗