Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to work with relevant authorities in improving storm resilience and recovery efforts in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.

Creating climate resilient places lies at the heart of the EA’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England (FCERM Strategy) and Roadmap to 2026.

(a) There is close working across Government, including partner agencies such as the Met Office and the Environment Agency (EA), to monitor the risk from flooding. The Government-funded Flood Forecasting Centre provides a daily five-day flood forecast and informs National and Local operational flood readiness, allowing early warning and multi-agency coordinated response.

The Environment Agency works with partners, including local authorities, as part of Local Resilience Forums made up of all Emergency Responders. The Environment Agency is actively engaged in partnership working with the emergency services and the military to ensure resilience and a readiness to respond to all environmental emergencies, including flooding. This involves joint training exercises and the supply of equipment such as mobile pumps to prepare for flooding.

Following a flood event, Government departments and agencies conduct reviews of their response and coordination arrangements.

(b)The Environment Agency has a good working relationship with the London Borough of Havering, who are the Lead Local Flood Authority for the Romford area. They work with the Council to assist them to mitigate flood risk in the Borough. This includes assisting with the Council's capital programme to mitigate against flooding, working with them to update and maintain their various strategic and non-strategic flood risk management plans, attending local emergency planning forums, and assisting with spatial planning.

In addition to that the Environment Agency is supporting the Council in raising awareness of flood risk in the community and how local residents can protect themselves.

In the lead up to the Storm Henk the Environment Agency enhanced their duty rosters to have sufficient staff to respond to the incident and offer support to partners and the public if required.