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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make a comparative assessment of the number of houses at risk of (a) surface water and (b) all other flooding in (i) the UK and (ii) the G7 in the last 10 years.

Flood risk management is a devolved matter. In England, the Environment Agency’s latest National Flood Risk Assessment published in 2024 estimates that around 6.3 million properties are in areas at risk of flooding from one or a combination of sources: rivers, the sea, and surface water. Around 4.6 million properties are in areas at risk of surface water flooding, of which 1.1 million properties are in areas at high risk. Around 2.4 million properties are in areas at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea, of which 367,900 properties are in areas at high risk. Some properties are at risk from more than one source of floods.

The data from the latest National Flood Risk Assessment is not directly comparable with previous assessments due to changes in modelling methodologies.

There are different approaches in defining and managing flood risk, and in recording residential and non-residential developments between nations.