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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment has been made of the equity of the cost to consumers of Flood Re insurance cover.

The premiums charged by Flood Re to insurers are capped based on council tax bands. This is in order to target support to low income households and address the issue of affordability of flood insurance. Prices start at £213 per policy, per annum in council tax bands A and B for a combined (buildings and contents) policy, rising to £1,218 for a band H home. During Flood Re’s first 18 months of operation, there has been a fairly even split between council tax bands A to E for the 140,000 policies backed during this time. The exact distribution is set out below.