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Flooding: Pitt Report

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, welcomed the Statement, but not much else. I thought that he was uncharacteristically critical of what the Government have been doing in this area. I wish to allay his concerns. He implied that the Government have been complacent in the speed with which they have responded to the circumstances of the floods, which had so many tragic consequences. The draft Bill, which we will have in the spring, will allow a great deal of scrutiny, as is absolutely right. On complacency, we had the full Pitt report only a few months ago. This House is always complaining about hasty legislation. Surely it is important that we get it right and respond to the request, which I hear in your Lordships’ House time after time, for pre-legislative scrutiny. On what has been happening in the interim period, I remind the noble Lord that there was an interim report as a result of the Pitt process. The Government have not simply waited to come here today before taking action. If one looks through the recommendations made in the interim report, one sees that a considerable amount of work has already been undertaken: groundwater level at a time of high risk has been monitored by the Environment Agency; the Environment Agency has developed policy on the use of demountable and temporary defences; all local resilient forums are to review local arrangements for water rescue; and so on. I would be happy to write to noble Lords with the extensive list. We have not been complacent. On whether we have accepted all the recommendations, the answer is broadly yes. However, we have reservations about recommendation 84, which suggested that we move to a formulistic recovery funding approach. We accept that there has to be a clearer process for accessing funding, but it also needs to be flexible and more responsive. Therefore, we are agreeing a set of principles across Whitehall, because a number of government departments are involved. I can confidently say that the broad thrust of Sir Michael’s reports have been accepted and will be implemented by the Government. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, was absolutely right to draw attention to the number of people who will still be out of their homes. My understanding is that the figures at mid-November were 1,045 households still displaced. Based on extrapolation, we think that the number that will still be out of their homes by Christmas will be about 500. Of course that is a matter for concern. There are a number of reasons for this, some of which still relate to insurance issues and drying-out processes. I understand that in some cases refurbishment took place before the house had fully dried out and therefore further work has, regrettably, had to be undertaken. In some cases, building work has gone wrong and has needed to be redone, and some people opted to take a cash settlement. However, there is clearly no room for complacency, which is why my right honourable friend Mr Healey announced a package of measures to support the people who have been so affected. I agree that the warning system is important. There has been a considerable increase in the number of people connected. The figure is now 280,000 people and I understand it is expected to be more than 400,000 people by the end of next year. The noble Lord asked about the mapping of national strategic sites. There has been considerable progress. We have established a cross-sector systematic process to reduce the disruption of essential services resulting from natural hazards. We are setting up a natural hazard team within Whitehall to monitor this process. National Grid has purchased 1.2 kilometres of relocatable defences like those used at Walham substation last year. Considerable work has been undertaken and will continue to be undertaken in this important area. The noble Lord asked about the selection of the first six local areas that successfully bid for funds for the development of surface water management plans and expressed concern that Sheffield and Rotherham were not in those six. Places are initially being funded to do the planning for surface water. They were chosen as a result of proposals from those areas most heavily affected by surface flooding, but I reassure the noble Lord that we will roll out the funding for this work ahead of the relevant legislation, which will be in the draft Bill, and I understand that we have the ability to do so. The point made by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, about local radio is well taken, particularly in view of the experience in the example that he gave. I will make sure that that is reported to the right quarters. It is vital that local services are co-ordinated and it is entirely appropriate that I refer to our decision to give leadership at the local level to local authorities. I am sure that that will be welcomed by noble Lords taking part in the debate on the Second Reading of the local government Bill, which will follow this Statement. The noble Lord is worried about regional control centres, which I know are of continuing interest to many noble Lords. I had an interest in them when I was a Minister in the Department of Health because of the implications for the ambulance service and the need to co-ordinate. I understand his concerns, but regional control centres offer many advantages. There clearly needs to be a co-ordinated response. We believe we have the structure right with the overall strategy laid down by government, the strategic overall role for all types of flooding, including coastal flooding, resting with the Environment Agency and the local leadership role resting with the top-tier local authorities. In a two-tier local authority situation, we would expect district councils to play an important role. Local resilience forums also have an important role to play. In the draft Bill, it will be seen that a duty of partnership will be laid on the organisations that are most critically involved, including the water companies. We think that we have the right structure to take forward the work that needs to be undertaken. We can reassure the public that there will be a co-ordinated response where that needs to take place. I well understand the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, about building on the flood plain. He will know that planning policy statement 25 toughened up the process of approval with a presumption against building in high flood risk areas, including giving consideration to all sources of flood risk and ensuring that developers make a full contribution to the cost of building and maintaining any necessary defences. We are carrying out an initial review of how PPS25 is being implemented by local planning authorities with the aim of identifying any barriers to delivery and determining whether any further measures are needed. Clearly, if noble Lords have individual concerns on that, I would be very happy to feed them into the review process.