Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings and communication Ministers and senior civil servants have had with Ruimte voor de Rivier regarding long-term flood prevention since June 2010.

Rory Stewart

Ministers and senior civil servants have not met or communicated with Ruimte voor de Rivier regarding long term flood prevention since June 2010.

The Environment Agency has a good and highly valued relationship with the Dutch flood agency, Rijkswaterstaat, and has been actively engaging with them for many years on coastal, and asset management issues. This has been both bilaterally and through mutual networks. There is a strong exchange of knowledge between our organisations, supported by a non-legal Memorandum of Understanding. This also supports mutual cooperation during an incident, where appropriate.

The Environment Agency was also grateful for the wider Dutch support offered during the 2013/14 flooding in the UK, with support from Dutch pumps and levee inspectors.