Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Association of British Insurers (ABI) (FL 114a)
ISSUES RAISED BY THE RECENT FLOODING IN ENGLAND
AND WALES
You asked me to send you some questions for
consideration, in addition to our written submission to the Efra
Select Committee Flooding Inquiry, which I include below.
— Is enough being done to ensure that
homeowners understand the risk and are aware of the immediate
danger (ie low uptake of the Environment Agency's flood alerts)?
— Businesses (mainly SMEs) seemed often
unprepared for the flooding and did not have adequate contingency
plans or insurance cover in place—how can this be addressed?
— Did it come as a surprise to see
drainage problems being the main cause of the summer floods?
— Is our approach to flood risk management
integrated (ie looking at all potential sources of flooding) and
joint-up or is there a need to review roles and responsibilities?
— Local authorities responded to the
floods differently—how can "best practice" be
encouraged, how can we make sure that lessons will be learned
at local government level?
Additionally, please see attached our response
to yesterday's announcement of flood defence spending in the Comprehensive
Spending Review.[10]
The statement sets out our disappointment that Government spending
for the next three years is less than we were asking for, even
before the devastating floods this summer. It does not begin to
address the major issues, including drainage and has completely
failed to grasp the importance of improving Britain's flood defences.
ABI
October 2007
10 Not printed Back
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