Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 39
4th Report – Flood resilience in England
Published 13 Oct 2025
Environmental Audit Committee Flood resilience in England All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
By the end of 2025, the Government should consult with insurers and stakeholders on strengthening the role of insurance in flood resilience. This should include promoting and simplifying access to the Build Back Better scheme. The Government should support the development and piloting of Flood Performance Certificates (FPCs) as a voluntary tool to improve awareness of property flood risk and resilience. FPCs should be introduced initially on a voluntary basis, with Government support. FPCs should be piloted in high-risk areas with a clear, trusted methodology for assessing resilience, in partnership with local authorities, insurers and estate agents, and they should be free or subsidised for low-income households. Following evaluation of the pilot, the Government should consider how to expand 67 FPCs more widely. Objectives could include minimising the risk that homeowners are penalised for factors beyond their control and reducing the likelihood that properties become difficult to sell or insure due to flood risk. (Recommendation, Paragraph 129) 68
From: Environmental Audit Committee, 4th Report – Flood resilience in England (HC 550), 13 October 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 23 December 2025 (deadline 13 December 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it shares the committee's view on the importance of flood resilience, agrees with some recommendations, and in some cases notes or considers them rather than accepting them, while declining to formalise the Flood Resilience Taskforce's role.
- On resilience standards, the government "notes" the recommendation and "will consider this as part of our existing commitment to explore a long-term target", with "a further statement next year".
- It does not agree to formalise the Flood Resilience Taskforce's role, saying this "would complicate the responsibilities and accountabilities".
- On making SuDS mandatory, it does not commit to commencing Schedule 3, saying improvement "could be achieved" by other means and it "will decide on which course of action to pursue in due course".
- On a statutory duty for Fire and Rescue Services to respond to flooding, it is "assessing the case", with the work "planned to conclude in summer 2026".