Sustainable Farming Incentive: Flood Prevention and Drought Resilience Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Lord Roborough
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Sustainable Farming Incentive: Flood Prevention and Drought Resilience
Lord Roborough Excerpts(1 day, 13 hours ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I know the challenges around Flood Re and insurance that the noble Earl is referring to. The issue we have with the kind of outbuildings the noble Earl describes is that they are registered as businesses in the insurance field. As I am sure he is aware, businesses are not eligible for Flood Re. There are complications around including businesses in Flood Re, and I do not think that the Government are likely to change their position on that. Having said that, we need to consider how we look long-term at flood insurance for businesses so that it will be possible to insure them in these cases in the future.
Lord Roborough (Con)
My Lords, I refer the House to my interests in the register as a farmer and landowner. The Government have stated that each farm can have only one SFI agreement, even if that agreement does not reach the £100,000 cap. Given the ever-increasing importance of flood prevention and drought resilience, will the Minister commit to allow related SFIs to be exempted from these rules and stacked on other SFIs without a cap?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
It is not something I can confirm today, but I am more than happy to take that back to the department and to discuss the different options.