Flooding

Jonathan Evans Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paterson]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for expressing her sympathies, quite rightly, about those who have lost their lives, because that has been really shocking. All I can do is repeat what I said earlier—that in the course of this spending round, this Government will spend more than any other Governments have spent on flood defences. We have an ambitious programme to spend £2.3 billion on capital alone up to 2021 meaning that 165,000 properties will be protected up to 2015, which is 20,000 more than we originally planned, and that a further 300,000 properties will be protected up to 2021.

[Jonathan Evans (Cardiff North) (Con)]

Although my right hon. Friend has made it clear that he does not feel it is appropriate to deal with questions about Flood Re until later in the day, his statement made so many references to insurance that it is important for the Secretary of State and the Government to reflect on areas in which Flood Re does not offer insurance protection, such as properties in two council tax bands in Wales and, for instance, the small guest houses on the front of the marina in Aberystwyth that have been affected by appalling waves today.

[Mr Paterson]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. I am perfectly happy to talk about Flood Re; I just thought that as there will be a debate later, and time is short now, it might be more appropriate to ask questions about it then.

My hon. Friend raises the issue of guest houses. We have made it clear that council tax payment is the criterion on which to decide whether one is in or out of Flood Re. I am not totally up to speed on the exact details of the guest houses he mentioned, but he may find that many of them pay council tax.