Environmental Audit Committee - Flooding

This month also marked the culmination of a considerable amount of work myself and my colleagues on the Environmental Audit Committee have put into our inquiry on Flood resilience in England. I do not have to mention how important this issue is to our constituency and to me personally. Indeed, I still have the bucket I used to clear some of the water out of my then newly moved into constituency office. 

Whilst the Government has made some decent progress tackling this issue, increasing investment to record levels, this is a problem that only gets worse as the years go by. 

Simply pouring money onto the problem is not the solution, however. My colleagues on the Committee and I have been working with the Government to ensure that victims are no longer passed around from agency to agency without the support they deserve. 

The Committee has called for the Government to implement a single national line that would let people know that the next time disaster, strikes the state has their back. I have also been calling on Ministers to ensure that funding is much more inclusive. 

I am determined to guarantee that when funding is dispersed it takes account of factors like deprivation, rural isolation and health inequalities so it can be used effectively to make a real difference.