Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what evidence his Department is gathering to inform future rainfall assumptions in flood prediction modelling.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) uses a range of future rainfall assumptions in their flood prediction modelling including consideration for how our weather patterns are changing.
The EA operates a network of approximately 2,400 rain gauges across England, providing daily totals and high-resolution data. The data is shared with the Met Office, and we work closely with them and other partners, to maintain and improve our understanding of future rainfall scenarios. This, and other information, is used to inform how we issue flood warnings to the public.
In the last month the EA has updated their maps showing current and future understanding of flood risk. For the first time this new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA), includes the latest UK Climate Projections (UKCP18) sharing the potential impact of climate change on flood risk, and shows that the risk from rivers and the sea in England increases by 27% from 2036 to 2069.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
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 protect farmers from competition from countries with lower (a) farming and (b) food production standards.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has set out its long-term vision to make farming more profitable and put more money back in the pockets of British farmers. We will work in partnership with the food and farming sectors to achieve our vision of a sector with food production at its core, where farm businesses can diversify their income to make a fair profit and remain viable in challenging times.
All agri-food products must comply with our sanitary and phytosanitary standards and wider import requirements in order to be placed on the UK market.
Our Trade Strategy will set out how we can achieve long-term sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth through trade. It will reflect the Government’s commitment to uphold our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety standards, areas in which the UK is a world leader.