Question
I thank the Minister for his statement and I welcome the Be Ready announcement. I have friends in Valencia who were impacted by the devastating flash floods in 2024. Spain and many other countries have long provided resilience and emergency preparedness advice to their citizens. Thankfully, my friends Eva and Pablo only lost their cars in the floods, but that culture of resilience meant that they had essentials at hand, and could help neighbours and vulnerable people as part of the community effort alongside the emergency services and regional authorities. With extreme weather threats now a reality here in the UK—as we saw this weekend—does he agree that it is right for us to adopt that approach to resilience, and that it is about everyone playing an active part in preparedness and in their communities?50% vibes
Answer
My hon. Friend is absolutely right: it is about people playing an active part in their own communities to ensure that collective resilience. She is also right to refer to the example of Spain. Spain has been doing this work for a considerable period of time and it has been able to build more of a culture of resilience. That is common practice among our neighbours in Europe and further afield, and that culture of resilience is something we are seeking to build here.20% vibes
Verdict: AMBER (62/100)
The Minister directly confirmed the second point: that resilience depends on people taking an active part in their own communities. On the first point, whether the UK will adopt Spain's approach, the reply endorses the example and says the UK is seeking to build a similar culture, but it names no concrete measures, such as what preparedness advice would be issued. The answer is therefore only partly specific, and the person who asked would likely need to press for details on how the approach would work in practice.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does the Minister agree that it is right for the UK to adopt the Spanish approach to resilience, in which citizens are given preparedness advice and keep essentials at hand? | Addressed | Hedged | The Minister endorses the Spanish example, says Spain has built a culture of resilience over a long period, notes this is common practice among European neighbours, and says the UK is seeking to build the same culture. This answers the agree-to-adopt question in substance, but no concrete mechanism is named (for example, what preparedness advice would be issued or whether essentials guidance would follow), so the commitment stays general. |
| Does the Minister agree that resilience is about everyone playing an active part in preparedness and in their communities? | Addressed | Direct | Statement 1 directly agrees that resilience is about people playing an active part in their own communities to build collective resilience, which is what the item asks the Minister to confirm. |