Recommendation 15

HM Government Not Addressed

We agree with the importance of effective public communication. The Environment Agency currently has a dedicated week of annual flood awareness raising activity known as Flood Action Week and is committed to continually improving the effectiveness of its communication activity. In October 2025, the Environment Agency delivered a week of activities including stakeholder events, media partnerships with the Met Office and the government, in-house digital resources on flood awareness, and a partner information pack being issued to more than 200 different organisations including local authorities, the British Red Cross, Flood Re and community groups. These groups were able to use these resources and amplify the messages through their own channels and networks, in a way that keeps their audiences at the heart of the message and activity. From Environment Agency media and digital work alone, this year saw 300 pieces of media coverage and over 98,000 views of Environment Agency videos resulting in visits to Environment Agency flood warning and preparedness pages. The Environment Agency uses a wide range of activities throughout the year, especially during the winter months on flood awareness in communications and through engagement. Over the course of the year, the Environment Agency has developed partnerships and projects that focus on knowledge exchange and co-design with underserved communities. Creative outputs from these projects will build trust and resilience for flood risk communities, and engage young adults, socio-economically deprived, ethnically diverse, neurodiverse and disabled audiences. The Environment Agency worked with the Department for Education, the Geographical Association and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics learning to ensure their flood messaging reaches more than 20,000 schools across England. This supports both flood awareness for school estates and enhances flood education. The Environment Agency worked with national stakeholders across the voluntary sector such as the National Flood Forum, British Red Cross and the Communities Prepared partnership to raise awareness and provide support and guidance to communities including funding the targeted deployment of the Flood Pod (a trailer exhibiting property flood resilience (PFR) information to communities at risk of flooding, and to encourage installation of PFR measures). Recommendation at paragraph 102: ‘The Government should establish a single, widely promoted national flood reporting and information service by March 2026. This service should build upon and expand the existing Floodline system to provide a clear point of contact for all types of flooding, offer consistent guidance, and be accessible via phone, SMS, and online. It must be co-designed with flood-affected communities and delivered in partnership with local authorities, water companies, and emergency services, supported by a national awareness campaign.’ Recommendation at paragraph 109: ‘The Government should establish a national support framework for local flood groups and volunteers by March 2026. This must provide: • Core funding to cover basic operational costs, provided through local authorities or Regional Flood and Coastal Committees • Formal recognition in local resilience plans and flood response structures • Standardised training, equipment, and guidance • A national toolkit to support group formation, continuity, and coordination • Targeted outreach to harder-to-reach communities, ensuring equity across rural, deprived, and low-participation areas’ Government response to recommendations at paragraph 102 and 109 The government is responding to the recommendation at paragraph 102 and the recommendation at paragraph 109 together as the recommendations are closely linked. We agree with the need to ensure clear and well communicated sources of information. The government also agrees with the principle of establishing improved support and better coordination for communities at risk of flooding and other hazards. We will take these recommendations forward working through an action group of the Floods Resilience Taskforce in 2026. It will identify options to improve communication and coordination with the public around flood reporting and information, taking the committee’s recommendation at paragraph 102 as the starting point. The group will take account of the government’s Blueprint for a Modern Digital government, from which the Environment Agency is adopting a multi- channel approach to delivering flood risk information services to the public. By combining technologies such as online platforms and contact centres, the Environment Agency aims to design services around the needs of users, ensuring accessibility and relevance. Currently, the Environment Agency operates two key services: the Incident Hotline for reporting flooding, and Floodline, which provides both long-term and live flood risk information and advice. The information and advice are active