---

Flood and Water Management Bill

My Lords, I am under the obligation, following last night, to be brief in my comments on the Bill, but I pay due respect to all those in Committee on the Bill and thank them for the constructive way in which they dealt with a complex and challenging Bill in the limited time that we had available. I think that it was recognised on all sides that we had some extremely constructive debates. The Bill has received a thorough scrutiny in both Houses and is a better and stronger Bill as a result. I place on record my particular thanks to my noble friend Lord Faulkner for his support during Grand Committee, when I was unavoidably detained by business in the main Chamber. He stepped into the breach and more than made up for my absence; I was delighted to see the progress that the Bill made on that occasion. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, and, if I may in his absence—I am sure that he is on some constructive work—the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, both of whom adopted an attitude of great understanding of how important the Bill is for the nation, while at the same time rightly identifying issues that need it to be fully considered. I pay my due regards to those noble Lords and their Back-Bench colleagues who supported them in their contributions. I pay tribute to the Minister for the natural and marine environment in the other place, Huw Irranca-Davies, who guided the Bill through the other place with considerable skill and determination. I also place on record my appreciation of stakeholders who, through their ongoing engagement throughout the Bill, have helped to develop it satisfactorily. I also take this opportunity to remind the House of the changes made to the Bill as a result of agreements reached during its progress in Grand Committee. There were 25 amendments in total, the vast majority of which were a direct result of the very helpful points that were raised and the excellent work that was done by this House’s Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee for its report, and I thank all members of that committee for that constructive work. In summary, the amendments that were made in response to the committee’s report constrain the power to specify new functions as risk-management functions to the functions that are already set out in statute, to provide for regulations on appeals to be subject to the affirmative procedure the first time they are made, to constrain future changes to the maximum civil penalty in Clause 15 to reflect inflation, to introduce the negative procedure for the national flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy in England and for national guidance on this issue in England and Wales, to introduce parliamentary and Welsh Assembly scrutiny as appropriate for subordinate legislation under the Reservoirs Act 1975, and to require a consolidation Bill to be laid before Parliament before the power to make pre-consolidation amendments by order can be used. The Government also amended Clause 43, the provision on concessionary schemes for community groups, to protect them from unaffordable surface water drainage charges. The House will recognise that this was an important and significant measure. This amendment was made to put beyond any doubt that Ofwat had to have regard to the Secretary of State’s guidance on the need for and structure of concessionary schemes in assessing any charging schemes that water companies propose. We believe that that was the effect of the provision as initially drafted, but we took the opportunity to address the doubts that had been expressed by noble Lords at Second Reading of the Bill. Indeed, the surface water drainage issue was raised on several occasions before the Bill saw the light of day. The remaining amendments ease an unintended rigidity in the order-making power to change the bodies that are responsible for approving and maintaining sustainable drainage system, which allows greater flexibility should circumstances change. At Second Reading, I reflected on the impact of the terrible flooding in Cumbria and in other areas of the country on homes, businesses and communities, many of which, as we all appreciate, will take several years to recover properly. The Environment Agency has told us the costs of the 2007 floods—£3.2 billion—so this is a vital Bill that has received cross-party support and is eagerly awaited outside Westminster. We have all seen the havoc that floods have wrought in recent years. Conversely, we all remember the periods of drought, so we have to be ready for a future in which, regrettably, such events are likely to be more common. I am confident that this Bill will equip us to meet the challenges that lie ahead, and I commend it to the House.