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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) improve the (i) communication and (ii) public awareness of flooding risks and (b) integrate the risk know-how framework into its (A) flood preparedness and (B) response strategies.

The Environment Agency (EA) has responsibilities to assess the risk of emergencies such as flooding. This includes putting in place emergency plans and preparations for the management of flooding, alongside arrangements to warn, inform and advise during an emergency.

In December 2024, the EA published a ‘National assessment of flood and coastal erosion risk in England 2024’ report. On 28 January 2025 the data will be available on Check your long term flood risk, Check coastal erosion risk for an area in England, Shoreline Management Plan Explorer and data.gov.uk

The EA provides the Check for flooding service, giving information on flood alerts and warnings as well as a 5-day forecast. Its flood warning system directly alerts 1.6 million properties in England who are registered to receive flood warnings.

The EA provides advice on what can be done to reduce the impacts of a flood, including preparing personal flood plans, adapting a home or business and getting insurance.

The EA does not currently use the “risk know-how framework” within the preparedness and response strategies to flooding. The EA uses the UK Government recommended model of “Integrated Emergency Management” (IEM) and has an internal incident management cycle which includes a comprehensive incident management framework.