Hansard

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 sets out for each potentially vulnerable area an indicative figure of the cost of the schemes. In practice, our experience is that some of the schemes that are being introduced are rapidly increasing in cost, so it is difficult to predict the exact cost of remedying each potentially vulnerable area, including the ultimate capital cost. We are having on-going interaction with particular projects to try to identify what the outturn costs will be.

As Chic Brodie indicated, it is important that insurance companies can access the Scottish flood defence asset database. That will enable them to take account of the reduction in risk that the construction of flood defences affords when they set premiums and the level of insurance excesses that are payable, which can be extremely high in some cases.

Chic Brodie asked for my feedback on that issue, and I am delighted to tell members that SEPA has now received responses from all 32 local authorities, none of which places any significant constraints or restrictions on the use of data from the flood defence asset database by any of the existing member categories, which include members of the Association of British Insurers. That means that the financial benefits to households of lower insurance premiums should be faster in coming forward when investment is made.

The Scottish Government is currently seeking to fund further research on a blueprint for property-level protection provision through local authorities in order to find the best system to enable home owners, residents and businesses to protect themselves. The fact that individual property owners and occupants are responsible for protecting their own properties is often overlooked. My office in Hawick is currently being fitted with such measures, and I was impressed by Scottish Borders Council’s service.

Earlier this year, I launched, along with SEPA, the first targeted coastal flood warning schemes for the east coast of Scotland. Those will benefit coastal communities from Eyemouth to Arbroath, and the new system will enable people to take action to protect their possessions and properties before flooding occurs and will reduce the damage costs as a result. Additional flood warning schemes are under development: the one for Stonehaven should be operational in autumn this year and the one for the Moray coast in spring 2014. Those additional schemes will take the total number of flood warning schemes in Scotland to 249.

The Scottish Government is continuing to invest in flood protection schemes. As part of that commitment, it looked at the mechanism for funding large-scale flood protection projects, in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, and agreed that, for the current spending review period, the flooding component of the general capital grant should be targeted at major new projects. The distribution of that funding is currently being agreed between COSLA and the Scottish Government. Three schemes were successful in bidding for funding in the first round of applications—Galashiels, Forres and the River Ness—and a second round of applications will be carried out later this year.

As part of the general capital grant, the Scottish Government currently funds local authorities to the tune of £42 million per annum as we attempt to overcome decades of underinvestment. We have raised funding from an average of £5.5 million per annum from 1999 to 2007 to £42 million per annum in 2007-08 onwards, and we have committed to continue that funding until 2015.

In February we published the surface water management guidance, which is an important step towards a collaborative approach to the management of surface water flooding in Scotland. It was developed jointly by the Scottish Government, local authorities, Scottish Water and SEPA through the Scottish advisory and implementation forum for flooding and will help the bodies that are involved in managing surface water to work more effectively together.

The Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with SEPA, Scottish Water and local authorities to protect more communities from flood risk. The creation of 14 new local plan districts brings together the key players in each area and enables them, in partnership, to take strategic co-ordinated decisions on how best to target their resources in a cohesive way. Those partnerships will develop local plans to tackle flood risk, which will target resources where they will be most effective in reducing that risk.

The Scottish Government will continue to make representations to the Westminster Government to encourage it to reach an agreement that ensures that flood insurance is available and—crucially—affordable in Scotland. In an ideal world, such an agreement should also reflect the lower risk of flooding in Scotland.

That will, in combination with our continuing work to manage flood risk, create a safer, stronger and more secure environment for Scotland’s citizens and businesses now and in the future. I urge Parliament to recognise the efforts that the Scottish Government is making on behalf of Scottish policyholders.