Emma Hardy MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  I am really sorry to hear about the hon. Lady’s constituents facing such an incredibly unfair situation for anybody to have to deal with. That is why the fact that sustainable drainage systems and schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 that we brought in were never enacted is so important, and that is why we are looking at that now, because there need to be adequate drainage systems in new designs. That should have been in place since 2010, but the previous Government did not enact it. This Government are serious about getting on with it.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  Hearing the news that anybody has lost their life in a flood event is truly devastating, and my sympathies are with the family and loved ones of those victims. My hon. Friend is right to point out the importance of delivering on the promise to build flood defences and to highlight that poor maintenance of flood defences puts an additional 60,000 homes at risk of flooding. She has already proven herself to be a fantastic champion by getting hold of me at every available opportunity to advocate for her constituency, and long may she continue to do so.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  I just mentioned in response to the shadow Minister that we should be able to announce which schemes have been successful by next month at the latest. If the hon. Gentleman writes to me with more information, I can give him a more detailed response on the scheme he mentions, but I recognise how important many of the schemes are to so many people.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  I cannot speak for all of Government, but I can certainly speak for what we are doing about property flood resilience—how we make our homes more resilient to flooding. We know that flooding is going to become more frequent because of changes to the climate, so climate adaptation is an area I am very keen on. That is why I met with all the insurance companies last year, bringing them all together, because I want every single insurance company to offer build back better, making more homes flood resilient. Of course, it is important that we look not only at retrofitting what we already have, but at what is happening with new builds.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his work to support his community at this difficult time. If I can be of assistance in talking to the Department for Transport, of course I will be.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Gentleman has not had the experience he needs with the Environment Agency, I am happy to take up that issue. An hon. Friend mentioned a good idea on the call last Friday: issuing an emergency flood pack to MPs containing all the details and information of who to contact and when. Members would then have that information when they needed it and be able to get hold of people exactly at the point they needed to do so. That issue has come out, especially with it happening over new year’s eve. People and the EA were out there working, but we have to make sure we have that communication. That is so incredibly important. I am thinking through different ways I can improve communication, but I will make sure that the area manager gets in contact with the hon. Gentleman.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  That is a really important question, and I am grateful that the hon. Lady has raised it. Of course, in the majority of situations in which flood warnings went out, people were given timely notice—again, I ask all Members to please encourage their constituents to sign up for flood warnings—but I am now looking at situations in which those warnings were not received in time with the Met Office and the Environment Agency, to understand why that has happened and how we can improve it in the future. We need to ensure that people are getting those warnings as quickly as possible so that they can take the actions needed.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  Again, my hon. Friend is right to point out how devastating flooding is. I would of course be happy to meet him and discuss the situation in his constituency, but just to reassure him, we will spend £2.4 billion in the next two years to strengthen, improve and maintain our flood defences.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman has asked the last question on my first statement. In terms of what can be done, we need to continue to work with other Departments through the flood resilience taskforce to look at how we can improve resilience and ensure that people get back to work. As he knows, flooding and water is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland, but it is always good to get him in at the end.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Flooding · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her question and for joining the call that we held with all the different organisations on the Friday. I anticipated that I might be pushed on that question, and I have to admire her persistence on it. Of course, I understand the importance of Flood Re and of businesses having insurance. The Flood Re scheme was originally designed in a very specific way, but I am always happy to take further representations from my hon. Friend.