The recent floods in York brought back into sharp focus the serious gaps that still exist in resilience planning and in the insurance market. What is the Secretary of State doing to advance that, and will he meet me to talk about these serious issues?

The premiums charged by Flood Re to insurers are capped based on council tax bands. This is in order to target support to low income households and address the issue of affordability of flood insurance. Prices start at £213 per policy, per annum in council tax bands A and B for a combined (buildings and contents) policy, rising to £1,218 for a band H home. During Flood Re’s first 18 months of operation, there has been a fairly even split between council tax bands A to E for the 140,000 policies backed during this time. The exact distribution is set out below.

The Flood Re scheme began in April 2016 and has now been running for just under two years. As of 30 September 2017 there were 199 policies taken up with Flood Re in the Colne Valley. The annual year-end figures will be available after 30 March 2018.

There are a small number of small businesses at high flood risk in recently flooded communities that struggle to access affordable insurance.

A British Insurance Broker Association (BIBA) insurance product, launched in December 2016, provides flood insurance for small businesses that have struggled to access it to-date. It also provides insurance against the excess of a policy, which was taken up 1,100 times in the first 12 months.

The Government is also working closely with the insurance and building industries to help support small businesses to become more resilient to flooding, stopping water entering the property and speeding recovery when it does.

The Government has no plans to devise a flood insurance scheme, along the lines of Flood Re, for the owners of small businesses. There is not sufficient evidence to justify the cross subsidy that would be required of other businesses.

What progress he has made on ensuring access to affordable flood insurance for people living in high flood risk areas; and if he will make a statement.

It is two years since Storm Eva and, with flood alerts along the River Ouse in York this week, residents living in leasehold accommodation or accommodation built since 2009, along with businesses, have been failed by the Government’s not putting in place appropriate insurance. What recent discussions has the Minister had about this issue?

Flood Re has really helped to cover residential properties, but what about a guest house? Is that a business or a residence? Can it actually get affordable insurance? Businesses, and small businesses in particular, are finding it difficult to get affordable insurance.

Many in Cumbria who suffered flooding were affected by surface water flooding. Although the Environment Agency’s flood defences must meet a once in 100-year standard, the water companies are obliged to meet only a once in 50-year standard. What plans does the Minister have to ensure that the water companies are held to the higher standard so that homes and businesses are not put at risk of the devastation and misery caused by flooding?

As we have already heard, parts of the country, including my constituency, were affected by both flood warnings and flooding again this week. The 25-year environment plan gave the Government the opportunity to think long-term about responding to flood risk. Although I appreciate that the national flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy will be updated in 2019, can the Minister explain why the plan itself fails to include any proposals or funding relating to reducing flood risk beyond just the next three years?

Before the introduction of Flood Re in 2016, only 9% of householders who had previously claimed for a flood could subsequently get insurance quotes from two or more insurers. By October 2017, availability had improved such that 100% of householders could get quotes from two or more insurers. Costs are down, and four out of five householders who have previously made a flood claim have seen price reductions of more than 50%.

Defra does not provide guidance to insurance companies on how they communicate their policies to customers.

More broadly, Flood Re works with insurers to help their customers understand that it exists to support households at high flood risk to access affordable insurance. It leaves it down to each individual insurer to decide on how they promote the scheme.

The government remains in close contact with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and BIBA, neither of whom has identified a significant problem for leasehold properties accessing flood insurance.

Government is aware that access to insurance remains an issue for a number of leasehold properties in blocks of four or more, where there is particularly high risk. We are following with interest a new service being provided by a BIBA broker which offers to formally vary leasehold agreements in order to give the leaseholder an express obligation to insure the structure of their property, thus allowing the leaseholder to access Flood Re.

In addition, the Government continues to work with commercial interests under the Property Level Resilience Roundtable to promote the uptake of measures that make properties, including leasehold properties, more resilient to flooding. Successes include a one-stop shop flood resilience website, demonstration properties in Cumbria and the development of a Code of Practice.

The British Insurance Broker Association (BIBA) insurance product, launched in December 2016, provides flood insurance for small businesses that have struggled to access it to-date.

Since the scheme launched it continues to grow in line with BIBA’s expectations. With a balanced and sensible approach BIBA are now insuring over 150 businesses who have previously had problems accessing insurance.

The BIBA scheme also insures against the excess of a policy. This product has been taken up 1,100 times in the past 12 months. Its value was evidenced by last Wednesday’s flooding in Lancaster and Cumbria, where three claims have been reported so far for commercial properties, each with a £25,000 flood excess.

In its first year of operation Flood Re covered over 127,000 policies. Flood Re plans to publish figures on the last 6 months shortly.

Before the introduction of Flood Re, only 9% of householders who had made prior flood claims could get quotes from two or more insurers, with 0% being able to get quotes from five or more. By December 2016, 84% householders could get quotes from five or more insurers while 95% could get quotes from two or more. 80% householders with previous flood claims saw a reduction in the price of available quotes of more than 50% after the introduction of Flood Re.

The Government does not collect information on the levels of domestic and business insurance held by those at risk of flooding in each local authority area.

Defra regularly considers the availability of affordable insurance for those at high flood risk. Defra undertook research in 2013 and 2015 and plans to undertake further research in 2018/19.

Flood Re was created to promote availability and affordability of insurance for households at high flood risk. In its first year of operation Flood Re has already enabled 130,000 households to access affordable flood insurance. Flood Re is actively monitoring the availability and affordability of insurance within the market on an ongoing basis.

The British Insurance Broker Association (BIBA) insurance product, launched in December 2016, provides flood insurance for many small businesses that have struggled to access it to-date. We understand that this new product is already providing insurance and has strong support from brokers. BIBA’s ‘Find a Broker Service’ can help business identify local brokers participating in the BIBA scheme and is accessible through BIBA's website, at: https://www.biba.org.uk/find-insurance/results/?insurance=908

The Government continues to work with commercial interests under the Property Level Resilience Roundtable to promote the uptake of measures that make properties resilient to flooding. These are measures that prevent water entering a property and speeding recovery when it does. One objective is to develop better standards and certification, enabling insurers to take greater account of resilience measures in the future.

The British Insurance Broker Association (BIBA) insurance product, launched in December 2016, provides flood insurance for many small businesses that have struggled to access it to-date. We understand that this new product is already providing insurance and has strong support from brokers. BIBAs ‘Find a Broker Service’ can help business identify local brokers participating in the BIBA scheme and is accessible through BIBAs website.

https://www.biba.org.uk/find-insurance/results/?insurance=908

The Government continues to work with commercial interests under the Property Level Resilience Roundtable to promote the uptake of measures that make properties resilient to flooding. These are measures that prevent water entering a property and speeding recovery when it does. One objective is to develop better standards and certification, enabling insurers to take greater account of resilience measures in the future.

I recently met with the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), to discuss its insurance product, which launched this week. The BIBA scheme is expected to provide flood insurance for many small businesses that have struggled to access it to date.

While we have seen no evidence of a systemic problem for small businesses accessing affordable flood insurance, there is growing anecdotal evidence of problems in some areas.

We welcome the launch of British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) insurance product which will provide flood insurance for many small businesses that have struggled to access it to date. We are also working with the insurance industry and the wider commercial sector to help businesses become more resilient to flooding, preventing water entering and speeding recovery when it does. The Government published the Property Flood Resilience Action Plan in October which sets out a number of actions that the businesses community are committed to taking forward.

We will continue to work to better understand the nature and extent of this problem and what we can do to help small businesses.