Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Minister of the Cabinet Office on the role of the Government Resilience Framework in strengthening national flooding preparedness.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, including future flood preparedness, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.
Preparing for flooding in England remains a priority for Defra and the Environment Agency (EA) to protect communities, as part of the ‘whole of society’ approach to resilience outlined in the UK Government Resilience Framework, which states that every level of society has a part to play in building national resilience. Recent communications that strengthen national flooding preparedness include the EA annual Flood Action Campaign which began on 20 November 2023, to encourage people to prepare for flooding. This promotes the steps that people can take to protect themselves, their family and homes. Members of the public can sign up to receive free flood warnings from the EA to keep them aware of expected or ongoing flood risks to their local area.
Defra and the EA also work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to share flood risk information, discuss the readiness of Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) for flooding, and to identify particularly vulnerable areas. The EA works in close collaboration with LRFs across the country to develop plans and procedures to address flood risks.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to bring forward legislative proposals to make it easier for communities to establish a Water Management Board.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is currently a technical barrier to the creation of new and expansion of existing internal drainage boards (IDBs), also known as water level management boards. The Government has amended the Land Drainage Act 1991, via the Environment Act 2021, to remove this barrier. This enables new updated valuation calculations for IDBs to use in apportioning their expenses between the beneficiaries of their work - drainage rates paid by farmers and special levies paid by local authorities - to be included in secondary legislation. We will aim to implement the statutory instrument as soon as possible, pending the outcome of the consultation which we hope to launch shortly.
It is a local choice where a new IDB is created, where there is local support to do so.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on strengthening national flooding preparedness.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, including future flood preparedness, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential. Preparing for flooding in England remains a priority for Defra and the Environment Agency to protect communities.