Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many officials of his Department are working on contingency planning for floods.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the lead government department responsible for planning for and responding to flooding emergencies. The Cabinet Office’s role in contingency planning is to ensure coherent, robust, risk-based planning is undertaken across Government and that generic capabilities are in place to prepare for and respond to a range of emergencies, including flooding.

Three officials in the Cabinet Office are currently spending a significant amount of their time contributing to the National Flood Resilience Review. Eight officials in the Civil Contingencies Secretariat work on the response to flooding as well as other emergencies.