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 is taking to ensure that accurate information on flood risks linked to adverse weather events is communicated to affected communities.

The Environment Agency provides the Check for flooding service giving information on flood alerts and warnings as well as a 5-day forecast. The Environment Agency uses its flood warning system to directly alert those who have signed up to receive flood warnings when flooding is expected in their area. There are currently around 1.6 million people signed up to receive these warnings.

The Environment Agency is continuously improving its flood risk data. It is currently developing a new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA2) that will provide a single picture of current and future flood risk from rivers, the sea and surface water, using both existing detailed local information and improved national data.

The new risk assessment information will be available to members of the public through the Environment Agency’s Check for Long Term Flood Risk service.