Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending a statutory duty on flood response to the Fire and Rescue Service in England in line with that in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A statutory duty for firefighters to respond to flooding is unlikely to make a significant difference to the Fire and Rescue Services which already provide effective response to flooding incidents. This has been demonstrated through the fantastic response of Fire and Rescue Services to a range of incidents in 2019 including the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire floods and the Toddbrook Reservoir incident; and more recently in response to this year’s severe storms.

Fire and Rescue Authorities in England already have the power to respond to all kinds of emergencies including flooding, under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, and placing a duty on them would remove local choice on responding to local emergencies.

The Government provides the Fire and Rescue Service with additional resource to tackle flooding via the provision of High-Volume Pumps and boats.