Flooding

Lord Whitty Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I am very grateful to the right reverend Prelate for mentioning that we are producing the food strategy. It will be incredibly important if we are to have proper food security going forward. Clearly, climate change brings particular challenges to our farmers and, because of that, to our future food security. We are very determined as a Government to bring departments together in order to produce sensible, forward-looking plans for the future. I am sure that we will be liaising with the group he mentioned. I will discuss it with the farming Minister, who is producing those plans, to ensure that that is done.

[Lord Whitty (Lab)]

My Lords, further to the point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, and my noble friend Lady Young, on planning and flood risk, I recall being a member of the board of the Environment Agency when it was given responsibility in the sense that it was a statutory consultee. I remember saying at the time, “This gives us responsibility without power”. Will the Government, in addition to the very welcome measures the Minister has already announced, give the Environment Agency and equivalents the power to override planning decisions if they consider the flood risk presented to be unacceptable? Will she also extend the period of help for the Environment Agency in terms of capital and staffing costs to ensure that the monitoring is effective?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

Clearly, the Environment Agency does important work here. Of course, monitoring needs to be effective: otherwise, what is the point in doing the work? The Environment Agency provides regular reports for many applications. Regarding his suggestions, a review of the Environment Agency, alongside all other organisations within the Defra family, is currently being carried out by Dan Corry. As part of the Corry review, we should be looking at exactly what the different organisations should be responsible for and whether that is adequate or whether it should be looked at and changed.