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Select committee inquiry

Climate change adaptation inquiry

Closed

Environmental Audit Committee · Opened 8 July 2014 · Closed 9 March 2015

10 recommendations · 14 conclusions
Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

What the inquiry looked at

“The Committee examined the progress of preparations in England for adapting to the impact of climate change. This followed and takes forward the publication on 9 July 2014 by the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change of its latest progress report ‘Managing climate risks to well-being and the economy’ . The Adaptation Sub-Committee reports on the delivery of the Government’s July 2013 National Adaptation Programme (NAP), which set out the actions to be taken by Government, business and society to become more climate ready. Terms of reference: Climate Change Adaptation”

The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.

What the government said

The government responded on 12 November 2015.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.

The government's response to the Committee's report on climate change adaptation notes the conclusions and responds to each recommendation in turn, agreeing in part, declining some, and setting out work already under way.

  • On sustainable drainage, the government points to strengthened planning policy from April 2015 and says it does "not therefore think it necessary" to remove developers' automatic right to connect new development to public sewers.
  • On the National Adaptation Programme, it agrees "with the principle that objectives and targets should result in measurable deliverables" and, "where appropriate", will ensure objectives in the second NAP report are specific and measurable. It will "explore" a two tier approach.
  • On mandatory adaptation reporting, it says the current voluntary approach received support in public consultation. It will "consider" how the third round is carried out after a review and consultation, expected in 2016-2017.
  • On a public awareness envoy, it prefers targeted messaging tied to individual climate threats and thinks a single body or individual "would be inconsistent with that objective".

Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error

How the inquiry ran

Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 8 July 2014 to 12 November 2015.

  1. Oral evidence 6 sessions
  2. Report 11 Mar 2015
  3. Government response 12 Nov 2015

What it recommended 10 recommendations · 14 conclusions

1The emergency response framework for dealing with extreme weather (and other events) has been repeatedly...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The emergency response framework for dealing with extreme weather (and other events) has been repeatedly tested and there are established structures through which the relevant central and local authorities learn lessons and integrate these into improving systems. Cuts to local authorities’ and emergency services’ budgets may be reducing the capacity of local emergency responders to deal with extreme weather events when required.
2Flooding is the biggest adaptation risk, and will increase even if significant resources are devoted...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Flooding is the biggest adaptation risk, and will increase even if significant resources are devoted to it. The Government has sometimes followed what the ASC has called a ‘reactive’ funding strategy, prioritising the most recent flooding events rather than long term objective needs.
3Funding for flooding adaptations must be sourced and matched against the value of the benefits...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Funding for flooding adaptations must be sourced and matched against the value of the benefits available. The challenge is to balance the revenue to natural asset owner against the needs of potential beneficiaries, who currently do not fully pay for those reduced-flooding benefits. The Natural Capital Committee’s work is at the heart of this question and it has been doing invaluable research in this area.
4Despite the clear flooding risks of building on floodplains, this continues.
Concluded (the committee's words)
Despite the clear flooding risks of building on floodplains, this continues. The Environment Agency’s advice against doing so is largely followed by planning authorities, but the Agency does not consider smaller developments which can still in aggregate have a significant effect on flooding risk, and the potential knock-on effects for communities downstream from a proposed development can be missed.
5The Flood Re insurance scheme will not in itself reduce flood risk for individual properties,...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Flood Re insurance scheme will not in itself reduce flood risk for individual properties, but it does offer a means for encouraging greater property level flood resilience measures to be delivered .
6The Government has said that it supports the deployment of Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) as...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Government has said that it supports the deployment of Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) as the default approach to development, but has stopped short of enforcing its use through the existing provisions of the Flood and Water Management Act. It has also stopped short of removing developers’ automatic right to connect new homes to the public sewer system, which would provide an incentive for them to include SuDS.
7Only a minority of Lead Local Flood Authorities have produced the required flood risk management...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Only a minority of Lead Local Flood Authorities have produced the required flood risk management plans, and without a legal duty to manage and reduce flood risks the local authority budgets for this work are liable to be reallocated to other duties. Where flood risk plans are produced, they are unlikely to cover the multi-decade planning horizon commensurate with the infrastructure lives involved.
8Building standards have so far given less weight to the health risks of over-heating than...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Building standards have so far given less weight to the health risks of over-heating than to energy efficiency. Continuing climate change will require an increasing emphasis on heat as well as cold.
9Infrastructure and networks—roads, railway, energy grids, airports and so on—are increasingly vulnerable to disruption from...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Infrastructure and networks—roads, railway, energy grids, airports and so on—are increasingly vulnerable to disruption from extreme weather events, but the economic and public-service impacts on them from climate change are not fully understood.
10The UK’s National Adaptation Programme process—required by by the Climate Change Act—puts us ahead of...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The UK’s National Adaptation Programme process—required by by the Climate Change Act—puts us ahead of most countries. The Government’s NAP has created buy-in through its bottom up approach but the Government has not identified proactive adaptation policies or driven action in a coordinated way, demonstrating inadequate Government leadership. The NAP document has also lacked a spatial focus to help develop landscape-scale or regional strategies.
11The Government has relaxed its ‘reporting power’ so that it is now only a voluntary...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Government has relaxed its ‘reporting power’ so that it is now only a voluntary code. That risks data gaps in further work to identify and monitor adaptation risks.
12The message on our climate change risks and the required adaptations is not getting across.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The message on our climate change risks and the required adaptations is not getting across.
13Without waiting for the ASC’s statutory report on the NAP in July 2015 or the...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Without waiting for the ASC’s statutory report on the NAP in July 2015 or the results of the Government’s ‘horizon scanning’ of future risks and threats, the Government should commission a review of the physical resources, capacity and skills available for emergency response as well as the coordination between all of the organisations involved, at both national and local level.
14The Government should make a clear commitment to allow the Environment Agency to allocate flood...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government should make a clear commitment to allow the Environment Agency to allocate flood defence funds according to its objective cost-benefit models without political interference.
15The Government has indicated that it will leave it to the next Government to decide...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Government has indicated that it will leave it to the next Government to decide the NCC’s long-term future. The NCC’s work on valuing ecosystem services, including those providing ‘soft’ flooding defences, show its importance for climate change adaptation, but also offers the prospect of finding funding mechanisms to link natural capital ‘owners’ and adaptation beneficiaries. The next Government must act as quickly as possible to put the NCC on a long-term footing, and encourage it to develop those funding mechanisms.
16The Government should require the Environment Agency to provide flood risk advice on all sizes...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government should require the Environment Agency to provide flood risk advice on all sizes of development, including small developments currently exempted. The Government should reassess the Environment Agency’s future resources, skills and financial needs, to ensure that these reflect the increasing risks from flooding in the years ahead, and the volume of work needed to deal with these.
17The Government must enforce the powers it already has under the Flood and Water Management...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government must enforce the powers it already has under the Flood and Water Management Act to require SuDS in developments, particularly on floodplains, and remove the developers’ right to connect homes to the public sewer.
18The Government should review the rigour of local authorities’ flood risk management plans, and put...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government should review the rigour of local authorities’ flood risk management plans, and put authorities’ responsibilities to take action to reduce flood risk on a statutory footing to prevent resources being directed elsewhere.
19The Government must ensure that its research in the Zero Carbon Hub addresses these [health...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government must ensure that its research in the Zero Carbon Hub addresses these [health risk from over-heating] issues, and consider heat-stress issues— including the use of more appropriate building materials—in the next review of building regulations.
20The Government should support further research into critical network ‘pinch- points’ and interdependencies, starting by...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government should support further research into critical network ‘pinch- points’ and interdependencies, starting by coordinating the necessary data-gathering which is currently incomplete.
21The Government should give a more explicit direction to all of the infrastructure network providers...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government should give a more explicit direction to all of the infrastructure network providers and their regulators to give greater weight to adaptation investment, and initiate a public debate about the costs that will have to be borne by customers and taxpayers. An early action should be to reconsider the case for introducing universal water-metering in water-stressed areas.
22When the next Government comes to produce the next NAP, it needs to take a...
Concluded (the committee's words)
When the next Government comes to produce the next NAP, it needs to take a more top-down strategic oversight, with a strong spatial focus, and create a set of measures and targets against which progress can be measured. It should clearly assign, to specific organisations and groups, responsibility for the actions needed to deliver the required climate resilience.
23The Government should consider making adaptation reporting a mandatory requirement again, at least for organisations...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Government should consider making adaptation reporting a mandatory requirement again, at least for organisations managing critical infrastructure and services.
24In preparing the next NAP report, the Government should assign explicit responsibility to a named...
Recommended (the committee's words)
In preparing the next NAP report, the Government should assign explicit responsibility to a named body or individual—an envoy—for raising awareness of our climate change risks. Once the ASC produces its statutory advice on the first NAP report later this year, and thereafter reverts to informal annual progress reports, the next Government should introduce a requirement for Government to respond formally to those progress reports.

Evidence

Oral evidence sessions 6