Lord Bishop of Sheffield

The government has undertaken a significant amount of work on umbrella companies in recent years. After analysing the results of a call for evidence on umbrella companies which ran from November 2021 to February 2022, the government published a joint consultation to seek views on options to regulate umbrella companies for employment rights and to tackle tax non-compliance. The consultation closed on 29 August 2023. We are now considering the views and evidence received to inform our decision about how to proceed. We will publish a summary of responses and our next steps in due course.

The Government acknowledges the devastating impact Storm Babet and Storm Ciarán have had on householders and businesses and sympathises with those affected.

The Environment Agency has been inspecting assets that may have been impacted. As of Wednesday 22 November, the Environment Agency have conducted almost 12,000 inspections – these inspections are in response to both storms. During Storm Babet the Environment Agency estimate that around 2,150 properties flooded, and around 97,000 were protected. During Storm Ciarán estimates are that around 180 properties flooded and around 42,000 properties were protected.

This Government is acting to drive down flood risk from every angle. in July 2020 we published a long-term Policy Statement, which sets out our ambition to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk. Alongside this, the Environment Agency’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England and Roadmap to 2026 is helping to create climate resilient places.

The Government is investing a record £5.2 billion over 6 years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. In March 2023, the Environment Agency estimated that approximately £1.5 billion of the investment programme had been spent, with over 200 flood risk schemes completed. Around 60,000 properties have benefited from better protection since the start of the current 6-year programme (between April 2021 to March 2023). This takes the total number of properties protected to 374,000 since 2015.

Lastly, Government is investing £200 million in a flood and coastal resilience innovation programme supporting local projects across the country. In September 2023, Defra also announced a new £25 million natural flood management programme. This information can be found on Gov.uk.

The latest data published by the Office for National Statistics shows that in 2021, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head, at current prices, was £25,665 for Wales, and £33,745 for the UK. The GDP per head for London (£59,855) and the South East (£36,174) was higher than the UK average. GDP per head in the North East (£24,575), the East Midlands (£27,505), the Yorkshire and the Humber (£27,692), the South West (£29,628), the North West (£29,681), and the East of England (£30,442), was lower than the UK average.