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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate the potential financial impact of flooding in communities across the UK.

The joint Government and insurance industry Flood Re scheme aims to promote affordability and availability of insurance for UK households at high flood risk. In 2022/23, Flood Re provided cover for over 265,000 household policies. More than 500,000 properties have benefitted since the scheme’s launch.

In April 2022 the Government made regulations to allow Flood Re to pay claims from insurers which include an amount for resilient repair (Build Back Better) up to a value of £10,000 over and above the cost for like-for-like reinstatement. Build Back Better will further help eligible flooded households become more resilient to flooding, enable homeowners to return more quickly after any future flooding, and will help reduce the cost of damages after a flood.

In October, the Government also announced a significant package of support that will be available to eligible areas in England that have experienced exceptional localised flooding as a result of Storm Babet. Areas reporting over 50 flooded properties at Lead Local Flood Authority will be eligible. The Flood Recovery Framework includes:

• Community Recovery Grant: Eligible Local Authorities will receive funding equivalent to £500 per flooded household to support local recovery efforts. (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) (DLUHC).
• Business Recovery Grant: The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) may provide eligible Local Authorities up to £2,500 per eligible small and medium-sized enterprise, which has suffered severe impacts from flooding that cannot be recovered from insurance. (DBT).
• Council Tax Discount: The Government will reimburse eligible Local Authorities for the cost of a 100% council tax discount for a minimum of three months for both the flooded property and also for temporary accommodation for the household whilst families are unable to return home. (DLUHC).
• Business Rate Relief: The Government will reimburse eligible authorities for the cost of providing businesses 100% relief from business rates for a minimum of three months if flood water entered the property, or the flooding seriously impacted upon the businesses’ ability to trade from the property (DLUHC).

The Government is also making payments of up to £5,000 available to help eligible flooded householders and businesses to install Property Flood Resilience measures to make their properties more resilient to future flooding (Defra).

This is in addition to the Government’s commitment to double the funding from £2.6 billion (for 2015-21) to £5.2 billion (over a period of 6 years from 2021) to reduce the harm and damage caused by flooding and coastal erosion, protecting people’s lives and minimising the disruption to their livelihoods.