Emergencies: Sirens
The question
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to her Answer of 21 July 2025 Question 68537 on Emergencies: Sirens, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that communities in (a) coastal areas and (b) that have limited or no phone signal receive those alerts.
Answered by Ms Abena Oppong-Asare
The Emergency Alert system is a UK Government capability that allows time critical life saving information to be broadcast to phones within a certain area.
This was introduced in April 2023, and has now been used five times. Emergency Alerts are instantaneous and the Government can send alerts directly to all compatible mobile phones within a geo-targeted area. A list of compatible mobile phones can be found on https://www.gov.uk/alerts/how-alerts-work. A second national test of the Emergency Alerts system will take place on Sunday 7 September around 3pm in the afternoon.
This is just one of many capabilities available to first responders in order to warn and inform the public of a risk to life. Broadcast media including local radio and online news websites disseminate important information, and specifically for adverse weather, warning methods include flood alerts via the Flood Warning Service, Met Office weather warnings and knocking door-to-door when safe.
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