8 May 2009 :
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Flood Control
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what level of priority his Department gives to the completion of his Department's programme of work on the protection of critical infrastructure from flooding in relation to work on the implementation of the other recommendations of the Pitt Report. [273132]
Huw Irranca-Davies: In undertaking to act on every one of his recommendations, the Government endorsed the importance given to this area of work by Sir Michael Pitt. While the Government will give a fuller progress report in June on all that we have done since we published our action plan on 17 December 2008, I have provided some examples of what has been done to protect critical infrastructure from flooding.
The energy sector began work on improving resilience to flooding in the autumn of 2007, with an initial focus on electricity substations being extended to include both gas and oil installations. The Energy Networks Association, working with the Government and the electricity industry, has produced a report on the steps that can be taken to further safeguard electricity substations. The matter is being given full consideration at present with the industry regulator in the scope of the current distribution companies' price review.
In addition, work has been put in place to take forward lessons from the 2007 floods in relation to water companies. All companies have considered resilience in their draft business plans, which were submitted to Ofwat in August. The plans vary, as expected, reflecting the size of the company and the specific challenges presented by their locations. In total, almost £1 billion of investment has been proposed to increase resilience.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress the Environment Agency has made on establishing the system for opting-out of flood warnings recommended by the Pitt Report. [273134]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Environment Agency systematically registers customers with its free flood warning service using publicly available information (names, addresses and telephone numbers). Customers are given the opportunity to opt out of this service. The Environment Agency pre-registered 55,605 new customers and only 521 customers chose to opt out of this service, giving an overall retention rate of 99 per cent.
For the Environment Agency to provide a full opt out flood warning service it needs access to ex-directory information. Since the publication of the Pitt Review, the Environment Agency has re-instated negotiations with the telecommunications companies holding ex-directory data. The Environment Agency is working hard to move to a fully opt out flood warning service by the end of 2009.
Flooding Lessons Learned Review
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many of the 15 urgent recommendations of the Pitt Review into the summer floods of 2007 have been implemented; and which ones are yet to be implemented. [272890]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Government began to implement Sir Michael's Pitt's urgent interim recommendations in December 2007. In April 2008, Sir Michael noted that strong progress had been made against the majority of these recommendations, and that further work was needed in some areas, which has since been continuing.
The Government's next progress report, which will be published this June, will enable the public and the House to see what stage of implementation all outstanding recommendations have reached.
Inland Waterways
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many miles of British Waterways’ canals have (a) leakage and (b) erosion. [273300]
Huw Irranca-Davies: It is impossible to quantify leakage in this way. Where leaks occur, they can be potentially very serious and lead to breaches. British Waterways therefore acts quickly to plug any leaks when they are identified. Some seepage is, however, natural on both canals and rivers. With regard to erosion, canals are by definition man-made, engineered structures which do not suffer from erosion—as opposed to wear and tear—in the same way as rivers. This is in part due to the materials used in their construction, the slower flow of water and the strict speed limit imposed on waterway craft.
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what procedures British Waterways use to record the number of water vehicles using its canals. [273304]
Huw Irranca-Davies: British Waterways (BW) keep a register of licensed boats. All boats on its waterways must have a licence. BW patrols the waterways regularly to check for unlicensed boats. It also publishes an ‘online boat checker’ where members of the public can check whether a particular boat has a valid licence.
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of narrowboats which used British Waterways’ canals in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2006-07. [273305]
Huw Irranca-Davies: British Waterways does not separate narrowboats from other types of boats in its regular statistics. The total number of boats licensed in each of these years is as follows:
(a) 32,566
(b) 30,905
Note:
Figures provided by British Waterways
