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Pitt Report

May I thank the Secretary of State for his statement, and congratulate Sir Michael Pitt and his team on producing a very thorough and comprehensive report? One year on from the disastrous floods of last June, the thoughts of the whole House will be with those who tragically lost members of their families, and with those whose homes and businesses were wrecked and whose lives were indeed turned upside down. Anyone who has met the victims of flooding knows only too well that, as well as the physical damage to property and the disruption to daily life, there is often a lasting, less visible but none the less real, emotional impact to cope with. It is essential that everything possible is done to protect communities against the risk of flooding, and to ensure that when flooding occurs, the response is swift and efficient. I pay tribute again to the work of the emergency services last year, who in often hazardous circumstances did an extraordinary job with great determination. Those circumstances were often made even more difficult by other factors; we know from the chief fire officer that he felt that there was ““institutional chaos””, which affected the emergency services' work. We must learn the lessons from that. Although Sir Michael's interim report published last December recognised that the weather events last year were exceptional, it found that the United Kingdom's response was ill prepared. At that time, he made 15 urgent recommendations, and the Government rightly said they would act on them. However, in a progress report published in April, Sir Michael was critical, saying that insufficient action had been taken on key infrastructure and raising public awareness. He said:"““The public remain little better prepared than they were before last summer's floods.””" What confidence can we have in the Government's promise to act on today's recommendations when previous urgent recommendations have been largely ignored? Sir Michael's interim report said that the floods were a ““wake-up call””, but after a bit of progress has been made on some of the recommendations somebody seems to have hit the snooze button. It is one year on from the floods, but three years since the Government first announced plans to give the Environment Agency a strategic overview of all types of flooding. Last week, the Government re-announced plans to extend the role of the EA as part of the proposed floods and water Bill, but there is no intention to do anything but consult on possible legislation, and then not until 2009. Is that the rapid implementation that is needed, or is it dithering? Last summer, the Prime Minister said, ““We will do all we can to help people living in temporary accommodation after the floods.”” What does he say now to the 11,000 people who are still out of their homes? The Government also promised that local authorities affected by the floods would be compensated for the cost of clearing up. We have spoken to local authorities and they have told us that they are collectively some £50 million out of pocket, because the money that they were promised has not been delivered. Does the Secretary of State expect the council tax payer to pick up the bill? We welcome the report's recommendation that there should be a presumption against building in high flood risk areas, but what are the Government doing to ensure that that is implemented? The report is correct to recommend that there should be an end to the automatic right of water and sewerage companies to connect new properties to the drainage system regardless of capacity, but where is the Government's policy to deal with that and ensure that it happens? On critical infrastructure, the report says that"““the approach taken by the Government to mitigating the risks from flooding and other natural hazards has been uncoordinated and reactive.””" It calls for the urgent publication of a national framework to reduce risks to our infrastructure. That was one of the ““urgent recommendations”” made last December. Is it not the case that vital infrastructure is as vulnerable today as it was a year ago? When can we expect a national framework to be implemented? The Secretary of State says that flood warnings save lives, and another of last year's urgent recommendations was to introduce an opt-out telephone warning system. In April, Sir Michael warned that ““insufficient progress”” had been made on this. Today he says that the issue is ““not yet resolved””. When will it be resolved? Sir Michael says of his 92 recommendations that"““strong national leadership will be needed to make them a reality.””" I suspect that what he really means by that is that more dithering simply will not do. Is not that the single most important lesson to be learned? What people are asking is when we will get strong national leadership from this Government. I fear that they know the answer.