Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to assist businesses in areas which are prone to flooding to obtain flood insurance.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We are currently not aware of any evidence suggesting that there is a systemic problem with the availability of commercial flood insurance and we have recently published a report that considers the availability of flood insurance for small businesses in areas of high flood risk. The report is available at:
However, we recognise the difficult challenges that some small businesses could face in areas of high flood risk. We have therefore committed to work with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and other stakeholders to monitor the insurance market for small businesses. We are keen to work across Government, and with a range of business interests, to better understand the nature and extent of any problem that might exist.
The ABI have assured us that the insurance industry will continue to provide insurance to small businesses on a competitive basis.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to work with farmers and land owners in areas susceptable to flooding to encourage them to allow parts of their land to flood to avoid flooding elsewhere.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Temporarily storing flood water on agricultural land can be a cost effective way of reducing risks elsewhere in a catchment, and where such schemes are planned, farmers/landowners are paid to store flood water on their land in a managed way, with payments being made to offset the damages caused by additional deliberate flooding that forms a part of the flood management scheme.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the use of upland management schemes in areas susceptible to flooding as a method of flood prevention.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Land management change can have important benefits in reducing flood risk. We will encourage any measures that could help manage flood risk, for example management of our peat uplands and planting trees to slow the flow at the same time as providing wider environmental benefits within catchments. Flood risk management is also one of the targeting criteria for woodland creation funded through the new Countryside Stewardship scheme and the Forestry Commission also continues to undertake research into understanding what role woodlands can play in managing flood risk.