Seventh Special Report - Heat resilience and sustainable cooling: Government Response to the Committee’s Fifth Report

This is the government's response, published 30 April 2024.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes the report and sets out its position recommendation by recommendation, declining to mandate use of the Green Infrastructure Framework, to name heatwaves or to run a public information campaign targeting the general public, while pointing to existing measures and consultations.

• On green space, the government "has not chosen to mandate" the Green Infrastructure Framework "at this time", saying it is important to allow local authorities "the space to develop their own policies".
• On heatwave naming, the government says there is "insufficient evidence that naming of heatwaves is effective and there are no plans to introduce heatwave naming"; the Met Office "will keep this under review as research in this area develops".
• On the public information campaign, it says "it is not clear that a public information campaign targeting the general public would be effective" relative to a differentiated approach for those most at risk.
• On a national cooling action plan, it will develop a "cooling outlook document" and is "working to publish" it before the 2026 target date, anticipating publication "in the early part of the next parliament".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error