§ Q18. Mr. J. E. B. Hillasked the Prime Minister whether he will make a statement on the recent floods and on Government policy and departmental responsibility for the relief and rehabilitation of the affected areas.
§ The Prime MinisterI am sure the House would wish me to express its sympathy, as well as that of the Government, with all who suffered in the recent floods in East and South-East England, as earlier in the South-West.
I appointed my right hon. Friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government to co-ordinate the relief work. As already announced, my right hon. Friend will also be responsible for allocating the Government contribution to funds set up for the relief of personal hardship. Responsibility for rehabilitation rests with Ministers responsible for the various services and with local authorities.
§ Mr. HillWhat is being done to produce more accurate weather forecasts, particularly as to the quantity of rain that is likely to fall? I acknowledge the very prompt action of the Government services in affording immediate relief, but is the Prime Minister aware that the remaining damage is very considerable? In Norfolk alone farm arable income is down by £5 million and there has been grievous interruption of communications. Therefore, can the Prime Minister give us an assurance that no limit on Government or local authority expenditure or private credit will prevent this damage from being put right and production being resumed?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not think that any hon. Member would propose that there should be no limit on Government expenditure. With regard to the early part of the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question, I think that he recognises, as we all do, the great difficulty of ensuring full accuracy in weather forecasting, especially when it is a question, as the hon. Gentleman says, of the amount of 204 rain and not whether rain is likely. However, on the other question affecting forecasts, namely, the amount of water piling up in the areas of particular river authorities, my right hon. Friend is examining with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture what can be done to improve the forecasting service of water gathering and of floods coming from one area to another.
On the question of finance, my right hon. Friend is at present seeking to get fuller information than we have had so far about the scale of the damage and the extent of uninsured losses with a view to establishing a suitable figure. The hon. Gentleman will know that in the case of the South-West, for example, we have provided financial aid, the amount of which I know is not satisfactory to many hon. Members, at the rate of £3 for every £1 raised by way of appeal against £1 per £1 under the previous Government.
§ Mr. EllisDoes my right hon. Friend realise that, while technically it is very difficult to forecast the precise amount of rain, within that context the forecast was reasonable but that we could improve the service immensely by sorting out the departmental responsibility of various Ministers so that warning given to people to get furniture, and so on, out of doors is improved and that one Minister should have overall responsibility for this?
§ The Prime MinisterAs soon as the floods occurred, I put my right hon. Friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government in charge of all the co-ordination work, and he furnished to me reports twice a day on the situation in each of the affected areas. I agree that there is a problem about the warning, not so much about rain coming but how much rain is gathering and moving from one area to another. I think that this could be improved, and this is what my right hon. Friends are discussing with river authorities, local authorities and others concerned.
§ Sir D. RentonIs the Prime Minister aware that many small farmers have lost all their crops this season either through flooding or frequent saturation by rain? Whether there are local relief funds or not, would the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that they face bankruptcy 205 or ruin unless the Government are prepared to help them? Would the right hon. Gentleman please do something about this?
§ The Prime MinisterI am aware of the very serious effects, particularly on small farmers and some not so small, not only in the areas referred to in the Question but earlier in the year in the South-West. We are well aware of the problem, and my right hon. and hon. Friends have explained the difficulty of extending automatic compensation in respect of agriculture. I do not think that we can say any more about compensation in the South-East until my right hon. Friend has completed his inquiries about the extent of uninsured damage.