Flooding

Debate between Dan Jarvis and Craig Whittaker

Wednesday 4th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Craig Whittaker]

One thing that the insurance industry tells us, particularly in relation to business, is that all businesses can get insurance for flooding. The problem, of course—I wonder if the hon. Gentleman has come across the same thing—is that the premiums are so high and the excesses are phenomenal, too. I found a 35-seat café with a £65,000 excess to pay.

[Dan Jarvis]

I am very grateful to the hon. Member for that intervention. He raises a very valuable point, with which I completely agree. I am particularly pleased that he intervened at that point, because it very neatly takes me on to the final point that I was hoping to make. In November last year, when I spoke to the Prime Minister about the flooding situation in South Yorkshire, he agreed that there would be real merit in a South Yorkshire summit on flooding. We now think it will include the whole of Yorkshire. Last week, when I raised it with the Secretary of State, he said that the flooding summit would take place within the next two months. I am grateful for that update, but it would be incredibly helpful if the Government and the Secretary of State could—perhaps the Minister could do so when she comes to close the debate—confirm when the flooding summit will take place in Yorkshire. That is important because it will bring together all the relevant parties to discuss the resilience that we do and do not have, and to consider what needs to be done in the short, medium and longer term to reduce the risk of further flooding right across Yorkshire. Protecting families and businesses in South Yorkshire, and not subjecting them to further harm from floods, is a priority that I believe the whole House shares. A summit would allow us to achieve that together and ensure that collectively we can work together so that those concerns are addressed. That is the least our constituents deserve.