Flooding (Cumbria)

I thank the Secretary of State for early sight of his statement a short while ago. On behalf of the official Opposition, I extend our sympathy to the individuals, families and businesses affected by the floods. I, too, saw the scale of the damage when I visited Keswick and Cockermouth on Saturday. The effect on people's homes and local businesses is dreadful. My hon. Friend the Member for Vale of York (Miss McIntosh) has been touring the affected areas today, and the Leader of the Opposition will be visiting this week. We pay tribute to the dedicated professionalism of the emergency services, and in particular to PC Bill Barker, who tragically lost his life during the rescue operation. We also remember the Environment Agency contractor and the canoeist who have died in the past few days. Our thoughts are with all their families at this difficult time. I applaud the tremendous efforts of so many volunteers who have been working to support the community throughout the past few days. As I made clear at the weekend, we on the Opposition Benches have pledged our full support for all the measures needed to help the communities affected. Although most insurance policies will cover the costs of alternative accommodation, it is the length of time away from their homes that will weigh most heavily on local people. We recognise that there are issues of safety, but even if families cannot move back home immediately, does the Secretary of State agree that they should be allowed the chance to inspect the damage at the earliest opportunity, as I understand some have been today? Regrettably, hundreds of families will be out of their homes for Christmas because it can take many months for flood-damaged houses to be fit for habitation. Although I appreciate that housing stock needs time to dry out, does the Secretary of State agree that we need a concerted effort to get people back into their homes and businesses as soon as practically possible? We must do all we can to avoid a repeat of the situation after the floods of 2005 and 2007, when some people were displaced from their properties for months on end or even years. Clearly, the situation with broken or potentially unsafe bridges is causing real problems for the local community. Can the Secretary of State indicate what role there might be in the short term for Army engineers to erect temporary crossings? We appreciate that the affected areas saw record rainfall on Thursday, and that the water rose to such levels that flood defences were overwhelmed. However, when some of these communities have been flooded twice in four years, does the Secretary of State agree that there should be a formal review of flood defences in the area, not just to understand fully what happened, but to assess future needs? Does he also agree that, across the country, we will need to consider augmenting hard flood defences with alleviation measures such as natural upland drainage systems? We have welcomed the introduction of the Flood and Water Management Bill and we will back the necessary measures to implement the Pitt review recommendations for flood prevention so that they become law at the earliest opportunity. Has the Cabinet Committee specifically recommended by Pitt to improve the country's ability to deal with flooding met? Our climate is changing and bringing with it more extreme weather. Inevitably, there will be floods that cannot be prevented, but when one in six homes are at risk of flooding, is it not essential that effective measures be put in place to prevent future incidents where that is possible? We on the Conservative Benches are committed to working constructively to that end, but does the Secretary of State agree that, as the clean-up takes place, as we move from emergency to recovery and as media attention moves on, we must continue to remember the individuals and families who have been affected by these events and maintain every effort to ensure that they can return to normal life as soon as possible?