Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to recommend that insurance companies make public their geographical data suppliers in respect of areas deemed to be at risk of flooding.

Insurance companies determine the flood risk element of the premiums they charge. Insurers use a variety of models to identify flood risk which may differ by area and organisation and will depend on their approach to risk and their underwriting strategies. Insurance companies do not have to disclose the criteria they use. The criteria and data suppliers that insurers use is commercially sensitive information which, if made public, could serve to distort the effective operation of the market.