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Pitt Report

I speak with experience, having been caught in my car in a flash flood on Saturday morning. Happily, my daughter and I escaped unharmed; we were luckier than Mr. Henry Collier, who sadly died in similar circumstances in Martock on Saturday. Will the Secretary of State confirm whether the money available to authorities that face regular flooding, such as Somerset, will be given on a needs basis or will it be distributed according to a formula, which will almost certainly disadvantage a county such as Somerset? Secondly, has the right hon. Gentleman been in contact with his colleagues in the Department for Children, Schools and Families about these issues? The Countess Gytha school in Queen Camel in my constituency was flooded again on Saturday and it is a regular occurrence for that school. It seems to me that extra money is needed either to make schools like the Countess Gytha safe for the future or to reposition them somewhere where floods cannot reach.