Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 07 May 2013
07 May 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Flood Insurance Problems
On transitional arrangements, any solution that the industry proposes might take some years to have its full impact because of the nature of the model that might be deployed. We therefore have to have transitional arrangements to take account of any event, such as a serious flood incident, and what we would do to recover the costs in those situations. That is not necessarily a negative; there are practical issues involved. We seek to work with the UK Government to develop arrangements in order to ensure that there is a smooth transition to the new scheme, which will perhaps have a longer-term target involving the building up of a fund to protect those who are at highest risk.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick)
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-06455, in the name of Chic Brodie, on behalf of the Public Petitions Committee, on petition PE1441, which...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
Thank you, Presiding Officer—and I noted your hesitation before you said “14 minutes”.I am pleased to open this debate on the motion in my name on behalf of ...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I call the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Paul Wheelhouse, who has a minimum of 10 minutes for his speech. I remind members who wish to take pa...
The Minister for Environment and Climate Change (Paul Wheelhouse)
SNP
The provision and affordability of flood insurance is vitally important to residents and businesses in flood risk areas. Insurance is essential for people to...
Jackson Carlaw (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
I am intrigued that the minister said that he has been able to ensure that Scottish interests are represented. Are there particular Scottish interests that h...
Paul Wheelhouse
SNP
Chic Brodie alluded to that point, which I will come to. There are some clear differences with regard to the risk faced by Scottish householders. The treatme...
Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
At what point will we be able to quantify the cost of the potential options for addressing the priorities in terms of those flood risk areas?
Paul Wheelhouse
SNP
I assume—I hope that there will be a physical nod in my direction if I am right—that Sarah Boyack is referring to the potentially vulnerable areas and the co...
Paul Wheelhouse
SNP
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...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott)
Con
I call Claire Baker, who has a very generous eight minutes.14:44
Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
I thank Professor David Crichton for submitting the petition on flood insurance, and the Public Petitions Committee for bringing the debate to the chamber.Th...
Paul Wheelhouse
SNP
On transitional arrangements, any solution that the industry proposes might take some years to have its full impact because of the nature of the model that m...
Claire Baker
Lab
I thank the minister for that. I do not know what the intentions of the committee are, but it might be helpful if the minister could respond to the committee...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Many thanks. To Alex Johnstone I give a very generous seven minutes.14:54
Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
Presiding Officer, thank you very much for your generosity. I will see what I can do.I very much welcome the fact that the Public Petitions Committee has dec...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
We move to the open debate. I call Nigel Don, who has a very generous six minutes. You can be loquacious, Mr Don.15:02
Nigel Don (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP)
SNP
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am grateful for your generosity, and I am sure that my constituents—one of whom is Alex Johnstone—will be, too, because, sadl...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Take as much time as you like.
Nigel Don
SNP
That is a risky thing to say. Okay.
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Within reason.
Nigel Don
SNP
We talk about once in 75 years, once in 100 years and once in 200 years flood risks. I think that Chic Brodie mentioned once in 75 years flood risks. We will...
Paul Wheelhouse
SNP
I will help to extend the speech a little bit longer.In Brechin, in which I know the member has an interest, in terms of a once in 200 years flood risk, the ...
Nigel Don
SNP
We have gone from the numbers to the solutions, but I absolutely agree. That comes back to my basic point that we are never going to prevent floods; what we ...
Anne McTaggart (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
As a member of the Public Petitions Committee, I welcome this debate on Professor David Crichton’s petition, in which he calls on the Scottish Parliament to ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
I call Maureen Watt. You have a generous six minutes.15:19
Maureen Watt (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
SNP
Thank you, Presiding Officer.Although I am a substitute member of the Public Petitions Committee, I was not involved in hearing the evidence on the topic. Ho...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
I call Marco Biagi.15:27
Marco Biagi (Edinburgh Central) (SNP)
SNP
Are you still being generous, Presiding Officer?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Pretty generous, yes. We will use up our time eventually, but at the moment you are fine.
Marco Biagi
SNP
You could easily be mistaken for Father Christmas today.As many members said, two issues are at play. One is Professor Crichton’s direct call, in his petitio...