Recommendation 14

It appears that there has been no single Minister taking responsibility for the immense challenge of adapting CNI to the effects of the changing climate, which has been falling through the cracks between Government departments. Despite chairing the Climate Action Implementation Committee, which was tasked with “building the United Kingdom’s resilience to climate impacts”, Alok Sharma felt unable to give evidence on this topic. Mr Ellis admitted to us that he was not overseeing a central programme of work, but rather played a “convening role” in relation to the Government’s written evidence. He also disclosed that he had never met the Defra Minister for Climate Adaptation to discuss CNI resilience to climate change, which may reflect the lack of any Ministerial forum to discuss this issue.