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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with local authorities on flood preparedness.

The Floods Resilience Taskforce meets quarterly to coordinate and drive forward work on national flood resilience by national and local government, including representatives from Local Resilience Forums, Mayoral Authorities and MHCLG. It met on 8 September and reviewed preparedness for flooding this autumn and winter.

The Taskforce discussed the risk of flooding and the improvements made by Taskforce members to prepare, respond and recover. They also discussed national flood modelling and forecasting, communication of flood warnings, exercising of the National Flood Response Centre and improving the awareness of flood schemes.

Lead local flood authorities (unitary and county authorities) are required to manage local flood risks from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. Local flood risks should be identified and managed as part of a local flood risk management strategy.

The Environment Agency and Defra will continue to work with their partners in local authorities to improve flood readiness, including Lead Local Flood Authorities.