Yesterday in Parliament I opened the Flood Insurance Problems debate in the Scottish Parliament for the Scottish Labour Party. The debate was a committee debate after Professor David Crichton submitted a petition to the Public Petitions Committee calling for the Scottish Government to ensure Scotland’s interests are represented in on-going negotiations over home insurance for flooding.

The region of Mid Scotland and Fife is one such area that has been particularly affected by flooding recently. Last year a home in Dura Den was severely damaged and up to 30 families had to be evacuated from their homes when the River Eden burst its banks.  In December the Eden also burst its banks between Ladybank and Kettle causing severe flooding for some homeowners.

Perth has also been badly hit in recent years, causing a great deal of stress to residents and in evidence to the committee, the risks faced by Orkney and Grangemouth were highlighted, along with the potential impact of flooding on the economy and energy supply. Flooding is a problem which is not reducing in Scotland, and we as a nation, not just as homeowners, must respond to the challenge.

The provision of insurance is, therefore, vital so individuals and businesses can provide themselves with a level of security.  Payments need to be affordable, and accurately reflect the level of an individual’s risk – if not they are at risk of leaving themselves and others vulnerable.

Home owners are seen to be increasingly vulnerable to the effects of flooding, in particularly low income households. The CREW report also found that although under-represented in high risk areas, 41,000 people on very low incomes are identified as being at risk.  However there are further concerns that changes to the insurance market may impact on people just outside the most income deprived, as the survey suggests it might, estimations believe that 1 in 22 households are at risk.

There is the further risk that for those who only require contents insurance, if costs go up more than they are prepared to pay, they will stop having insurance.  Evidence given to the committee by insurer, Adrian Webb, highlights that this could be an issue as “The worst cases that insurers see involve people who believe that they will never be flooded but who are suddenly hit by a catastrophic flash flood. Those people are the ones for whom the Government becomes the insurer of last resort.”

Concerns have been raised about the availability of accurate information about the risks in Scotland.  The CREW report says a particular area of concern expressed by the insurance industry is that they have had difficulty accessing information on improvements which may substantially reduce the flood risk for individual properties.  Surely this can be resolved.

Labour raised concerns when the Scottish Government removed ring-fencing for capital projects that the burden being put on local authorities was too high.  Communities look to the local authority for dealing with the problem but the costs of preventative and restorative action can be considerable, and the burden falls heaviest on particular authorities.  And while the Scottish Government has the Bellwin scheme, the scale of the problem now and in the future is at risk of not being matched by the investment.

Preparing Scotland for the future climate challenges is important, but for many households, the way in which they protect themselves is changing in a matter of weeks. The Scottish Government has heard the arguments; it now needs to be clear about the consequences and solutions for Scottish households.