Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 28 October 2025.
Paulette Hamilton
Labour, Birmingham Erdington
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to assess the potential impact of climate-related risks to (a) health, (b) infrastructure and (c) the economy on the Government's (i) policies and (ii) spending plans.
Emma Hardy
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
It is the Government’s statutory duty to assess climate risks to the UK every five years under the Climate Change Act, a process known as the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), followed by a National Adaptation Programme (NAP), setting out actions to address the risks identified in the CCRA.
The Government published CCRA3 in January 2022, identifying 61 climate risks and opportunities, including infrastructure, health and the wider economy. NAP 3 brings together policies and actions to address these uncertainties.
Government spending is subject to clear requirements through the Green Book to consider climate change impacts. At SR 2025 HMT set a requirement for capital bids to be assessed according to their climate and environmental impact, including their resilience to the effects of climate change.
The forthcoming publication of the Government’s response to the CCC’s latest adaptation progress report will set out the Government’s approach to managing climate risks.
CCRA4 is due to be laid in Parliament by the UK Government in January 2027. The CCC are coordinating the Independent Assessment (CCRA4-IA) that will be published in 2026 and will form the basis of CCRA4.
Yes1 person thinks so
No1 person thinks not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
