The Cabinet Office is committed to delivering value for money to the public. There is no additional or marginal cost of issuing a nationwide Emergency Alert; the most recent activation of the Emergency Alert capability on 14 August was issued at no cost to the taxpayer.

It is important to note that every Emergency Alert is carefully coordinated with responding public bodies and agencies. Each request is evaluated by the Cabinet Office on a rigorous, case-by-case basis to ensure it is necessary for public safety.

The Cabinet Office carries out an internal review of every activation and test of the system. We are committed to learning from this experience and are currently reviewing the thresholds and operational protocols for future alerts to ensure they remain a proportionate and effective tool for preserving life. The National Fire Chiefs Council observed a decrease in wildfire responses in the 72 hours following the broadcast, suggesting the alert played a vital role in preventing further incidents.

Emergency Alerts in the UK will be sent where there is a risk to life in a defined area and the public must take immediate action. In the case of the recent activation regarding wildfires this was requested by the National Fire Chiefs Council, and the Alert content and broadcast area was coordinated between government and responding public bodies.

Each request is evaluated by the Cabinet Office on a rigorous, case-by-case basis to ensure it is necessary for public safety. While we strive to use this tool sparingly, the Cabinet Office remains committed to reviewing every alert request with the utmost care to balance public awareness with the potential for public fatigue. The Department conducts internal evaluation after each deployment of the capability and is committed to continuously improving this valuable service to keep people safe.

Following every activation of the Emergency Alert system, the Cabinet Office carries out an internal evaluation with key stakeholders. After the 14th August, the Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council noted that the Emergency Alert heightened public awareness of the risks affecting firefighters. It was reported that there was a reduction in the number of wildfires in the 72 hours following the Emergency Alert.

The Cabinet Office is committed to continuously improving this valuable service to keep people safe. The government remains ready to deploy the capability at short-notice in response to risks that pose a danger to life, including but not limited to flooding, severe weather and wildfires.

Whilst the Emergency Alerts capability is an important tool for warning and informing the public, the system is intended to complement rather than supersede other tools available to responders to communicate with the public in emergency situations. Those unable to be notified by this new capability will therefore be alerted by other existing mechanisms, for example, by text or phone messages, social and broadcast media.

Furthermore, each region across the UK also has a group in place, whose role it is to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency. These are called Local Resilience Forums in England and Wales, Regional Resilience Partnerships in Scotland, and Emergency Preparedness Groups in Northern Ireland. These forums are made up of local authorities, the emergency services, the NHS & health bodies and environment-related government agencies.

The Government’s ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. This includes rural areas. The Government continues to work closely with the industry to ensure this is delivered, including through the identification and removal of barriers to deployment. Alongside the commercial rollout of mobile networks, the Government is delivering the Shared Rural Network, which is bringing new 4G coverage to rural and hard to reach communities across the UK through the upgrade of existing infrastructure and the delivery of new sites.

Protecting victims of domestic abuse is always our priority. Both national tests of the Emergency Alerting capability were accompanied by a proactive public communications campaign. This included extensive engagement with charities and groups representing vulnerable communities, such as Refuge. Advice on how to opt-out of emergency alerts is available at all times of GOV.uk/alerts, and is included in the websites of a number of charities and organisations that support victims of domestic abuse.

As far as possible, the Cabinet Office engages with the media ahead of the transmission of an Alert to provide notice to the public. In a ‘live’ activation scenario, pre-planned public communications are difficult to ensure but will always be considered where possible. Please be assured that we are learning from each activation to ensure that the capability is being used in the most effective way.

The government understands that individuals may be worried if they did not receive the recent Emergency Alert on 14th August and wants to reassure the public that if they are unable to receive Emergency Alerts due to handset incompatibility or living in a signal black spot, they will still be alerted by other existing mechanisms. For example, by text or phone messages, social and broadcast media. The Emergency Alerts capability is intended to complement rather than supersede other tools available to responders to communicate with the public in emergency situations.

Each region across the UK also has a group in place, whose role it is to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency. These are called Local Resilience Forums in England and Wales, Regional Resilience Partnerships in Scotland, and Emergency Preparedness Groups in Northern Ireland. These forums are made up of local authorities, the emergency services, the NHS & health bodies and environment-related government agencies.

The government’s ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. This includes rural areas. The Government continues to work closely with the industry to ensure this is delivered, including through the identification and removal of barriers to deployment. Alongside the commercial rollout of mobile networks, the Government is delivering the Shared Rural Network, which is bringing new 4G coverage to rural and hard to reach communities across the UK through the upgrade of existing infrastructure and the delivery of new sites.

Protecting women in abusive relationships is our highest priority. In order to protect those who may have hidden phones, both national tests of the Emergency Alerting capability have been accompanied by a wide-ranging proactive public communications campaign. This raised awareness of the system and recommended that women with hidden phones opt out of receiving Alerts and was delivered in partnership with organisations that represent these groups.

In a ‘live’ activation scenario such as this, such pre-planned public communications are not always possible. But please be assured that we are learning from each activation to ensure that the capability is being used in the most effective way and, where it is practicable, advance warning of alerts will be considered.

The Cabinet Office develops Emergency Alerts in collaboration with local responders and emergency services. Every Alert is carefully coordinated with responding public bodies and each request is evaluated by the Cabinet Office on a rigorous, case-by-case basis to ensure it is necessary for public safety.

All Emergency Alerts must meet the criteria for use and since the launch of the capability in April 2023, the Cabinet Office has authorised seven live activations, six of which were related to extreme weather.

The Government remains ready to deploy the capability at short-notice in response to risks that pose a danger to life, including but not limited to flooding, severe weather and wildfires.

All Emergency Alerts must meet an agreed set of criteria for use. Those criteria were met on the 14th August. On the day the Alert was issued, the National Fire Chiefs Council reported 43 active fires and 11 major incidents nationwide. Mutual aid was in play, with fire and rescue services across the country supporting each other. In south Wales, the military had been deployed to tackle major wildfires.

We took the decision working with fire and rescue services on the ground, in response to the latest understanding of the risk picture.

Encouragingly, in the 72 hours following the Emergency Alert, the Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council Phil Garrigan noted there was a reduction in the number of wildfires. The Alert was effective in heightening the public’s awareness of the risk affecting the country.

The government remains ready to deploy the capability at short-notice in response to risks that pose a danger to life, including but not limited to flooding, severe weather and wildfires.

Every Emergency Alert is carefully coordinated with responding public bodies and agencies. This tool is only used in emergency scenarios and where the need is greatest. The Cabinet Office remains committed to reviewing every alert request on a case-by-case basis.

In Wales, the alert was sent in Welsh followed by English in order to fulfil our legal responsibilities under the Welsh Language Act 1993.

The planning and activation of the Emergency Alert capability on 14 August was issued at no cost to the taxpayer.

The Emergency Alert capability was brought into place in 2023 under the previous government. It was signed off by the Cabinet Office, where the honourable Member asking this question was, at the time, a minister.

As he will know, the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) Part 1 places duties on Category 1 and 2 emergency responders to have arrangements in place to warn the public of emergencies and to provide advice and information.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR) permits the government to test and operate an emergency alerting system.

Emergency Alerts operate on cell broadcast technology, which does not require or gather any information from individual handsets. Therefore, it is not possible to validate which handsets have opted out in their phone settings.

Emergency alerts contain life-saving information and should be kept switched on for safety. However, individuals can opt out. For example, victims of domestic abuse with concealed phones may find it appropriate to opt out of receiving Emergency Alerts. Information on opting out can be found at https://www.gov.uk/alerts.

The activation of the Emergency Alert capability on 14 August was issued at no cost to the taxpayer.

The threshold considerations for issuing an emergency alert include considering whether there is a risk to life, and whether those receiving the message need to take urgent action.

There is no separate criteria for issuing alerts locally and nationally.

The Emergency Alert broadcast on 14 August was authorised by the First Secretary of State following a request from the National Fire Chiefs Council. Every Emergency Alert is carefully coordinated with responding public bodies and agencies.

This tool is only used in emergency scenarios and where the need is greatest. The Cabinet Office remains committed to reviewing every alert request on a case-by-case basis.

The One Year Evaluation delivered in September 2024 contains detailed information regarding the operation and processes of the Emergency Alerts system. The capability represents a key part of the UK’s crisis response ability and therefore is unable to be shared publicly in order to maintain the integrity of the system.