Energy and Climate Change and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, time is very short and I want to respond to the debate. The hon. Members for Westmorland and Lonsdale and for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) have, sadly, both had direct experience of flooding and they spoke movingly about the spirit and resilience of the constituencies and the constituents whom they represent. I know that that is the best quality their communities have to carry them through these difficult times. Let me assure the hon. Member for Tewkesbury that we will, of course, continue to talk to the insurance industry about how it can help. My hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith), in common with other Members, raised the question of building on floodplains. The latest information we have, as a result of PPS25, is that 98 per cent. of planning decisions are going in line with the advice of the Environment Agency, which is exactly why we changed PPS25 to make sure that flood risk was taken into account. The hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs. Miller) asked about private sewers, but primary legislation is not required in order to effect the transfer. We will consult on draft regulations as soon as possible. In effect, what we are doing is creating a national insurance scheme by passing that responsibility from local authorities—thus relieving them of a cost, so that the money can then be applied to deal with surface water flooding and the other responsibilities put on them in the Flood and Water Management Bill—to the water companies that will pick it up. My hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) made a stirring speech and I probably owe him another letter on the subject of Tunnel Tech, but I think he will find that feed-in tariffs will in part answer the point he raised about the incentive to put small-scale renewable energy into people's houses. I am grateful to the hon. Member for East Devon (Mr. Swire) for his support for the Flood and Water Management Bill, although I have to correct him in one respect, as there are no vegans on the Front Bench. There will be a new 26th offshore round next year in the North sea. My hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Chris McCafferty) talked about sustainable population and I thought she made a very important contribution on a subject for which she has been a passionate advocate for many years indeed. I agreed with half of what the hon. Member for Northampton, South (Mr. Binley) had to say, if I may be generous. He praised my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in relation to clean coal, but when he got round to attacking renewables his remarks were very much out of sync with those of his hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells, who speaks from the Front Bench for the Conservative party. It would be nice to know what the Conservative policy is. The hon. Member for Angus (Mr. Weir) spoke eloquently and knowledgeably about North sea oil and gas. I agreed with a little of the speech made by the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Mr. Crabb), particularly when he talked about the need for a balanced energy supply. One phrase used in the debate was seized upon by a number of Members and it sums up the challenges that we face. It came from the words of my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, East in talking about mass sustainability. In truth, to address the points raised by the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert), he is right about the changing climate and the more extreme weather in the UK. Let me take this opportunity to give the House an update on the latest information about Cumbria. Rain has fallen during the day and 52 mm has been recorded in Honister. The heaviest rain is expected somewhere between about 54 minutes ago and midnight. The campsite in Keswick now has a flood warning, while Cockermouth and Keswick may need to have further warnings and there could be further property flooding—although not, on current indications, on anything like the previous scale. All are currently warnings as opposed to severe warnings. I can also announce that in the past few days 63,500 automated warnings have gone out as a result of people having registered on the floodline and the warning system. We will, of course, look into particular cases. People will not get a warning of surface water flooding, for the reasons that I set out a few moments ago, but we are trying to develop our understanding.