2nd Report - Flooding: Cooperation across Government
- HC No.
- HC 183
- Published
- 9 Jun 2016
- Items
- 0
- Government response
- Government response published 9 September 2016. Read the government's response ↗
Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Flooding: Cooperation Across Government inquiry
Closed
Opened 18 Jan 2016
Closed 25 Aug 2016
Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
Following another winter of severe UK floods, EAC is launching an inquiry into Government policy and action on flooding. We will be focusing on whether the Government’s approach is ‘joined-up’, and the extent to which cooperation across Government on this matter is successful. As part of the inquiry we will be using the resilience of UK infrastructure as a case study. We will use this to investigate issues such as: how Government departments and public bodies can better cooperate to offer coherent policy and action on flooding; what the strengths and weaknesses of the Government’s current approach are; and what is required from Government to ensure that the UK’s development is sustainable and best-placed to face future floods. We are not issuing a formal call for written evidence for this inquiry. However, if you would like to submit evidence relating to cooperation across Government regarding flooding, please contact the Committee team on eacom@parliament.uk .
Where it stands
The inquiry is closed, opened 18 January 2016.
The committee has published 1 report, most recently 2nd Report - Flooding: Cooperation across Government on 9 June 2016.
The government's response
Published 9 September 2016.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the report but rejects the Committee's conclusion that it has failed to take a long-term approach to flood management, and does not accept the recommendations on infrastructure resilience.
- On maintenance, the Government says it will protect flood defence maintenance funding in real terms until the end of this Parliament, with an additional £40m per year announced in Budget 2016.
- On the Committee's call for a 99% asset condition target, the Government says the optimum range is between 96% and 98%, as a higher target would require maintenance to be carried out "very quickly and at substantially increased cost".
- On infrastructure resilience, it states that it "does not accept the Committee's recommendations" but shares the goal, and says the National Flood Resilience Review will announce further actions agreed with industry.
- On planning, it does not consider there is "a justified need" for a new systematic approach to checking that homes are built in accordance with planning permission, citing existing enforcement powers.
Reports
All reportsEvidence
- 4 oral evidence sessionsLatest 13 April 2016
Recent activity
- Letter from Andrea Leadsom to Mary Creagh regarding flood defence and resilience spending dated 9 January 201727 February 2017, Correspondence
- 2nd Special Report - Flooding: Cooperation across Government: Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report of Session 2016–179 September 2016, Report published
- Letter from Jeremy Walker Chair of Slowing the Flow Partnership to Mary Creagh MP regarding the Committee's Flooding: Cooperation across government report dated 22 June 2016 (PDF 120.38 KB)12 July 2016, Correspondence
Reports
Oral evidence sessions
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Correspondence
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