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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Flood Resilience Taskforce most recently met; what recommendations it has provided to Ministers since September regarding national readiness for severe weather events; and what assessment she has made of the Taskforce’s impact on improving cross-government coordination during Storm Claudia.

The Floods Resilience Taskforce most recently met in September and held two meetings on the 8^th and 15^th. The Taskforce discussed actions by members to prepare for, respond to and recover from flooding during autumn and winter. This included improvements to national flood modelling and forecasting and communication of flood warnings.

Taskforce members including the Environment Agency, Defra and Natural Resources Wales were in contact throughout Storm Claudia principally through using their existing emergency response arrangements. Taskforce members work on improved national flood modelling helped preparations and response, and facilitated the deployment of the FloodRe Floodmobile demonstration unit, which showcases dozens of property flood resilience measures, to Monmouthshire, to support flood affected residents.

The Floods Resilience Taskforce will next meet on 18 December and will discuss learning and recommendations from Storm Claudia.