UK Parliament
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee was set up in July 2001 following changes to the machinery of Government after the General Election of that year.
- Inquiry into flooding
- The Environment Agency (Seventh Report, 2005-06 Session) and Government and Environment Agency Responses (Sixth Special Report, 2005-06 Session)
- Climate Change, Water Security and Flooding (Sixteenth Report, 2003-04 Session) and Government Response (Second Special Report, 2004-05 Session)
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest: Conserving the Jewels of England's Natural Heritage (Fourteenth Report, 2003-04 Session) and Government Response (Eighteenth Special Report, 2003-04 Session)
- Minutes of Evidence, 28 November 2001, Mr Elliot Morley MP and Sir John Harman
Agriculture Committee
The Agriculture Committee was responsible for examining on behalf of the House of Commons the expenditure, administration and policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and associated public bodies. Following the creation of Defra, it was replaced by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
- 2000-01: Third Report (Flood and Coastal Defence: Follow-up to Sixth Report) and Government Response (Eighth Special Report).
- 1999-00: Progress Report on Implementation of Recommendations in Sixth Report - Memorandum from MAFF and Uncorrected Evidence
- 1997-98: Sixth Report (Flood and Coastal Defence) and Government Response (Fifth Special Report)
Communities and Local Government Committee
- 2006-07: Second Report, Coastal Towns and Government Response
Second Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation
This Committee considered the Southern Regional Flood Defence Committee Order 2004 on 8 February 2005. For more information on the background to this, please see our description of the Environment Agency.
Public Accounts Committee
The Public Accounts Committee is appointed “for the examination of the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted by Parliament to meet the public expenditure, and [since 1934] of such other accounts laid before Parliament as the Committee may think fit”. Items of note relating to management of flood and coastal erosion risk in recent years are:
- 2006-07: Fourth Report, Building and maintaining river and coastal flood defences in England or PDF version and Uncorrected transcript of Oral Evidence given by Environment Agency which followed the National Audit Office report of the same name.
- 2001-02: Eighteenth Report: Inland Flood Defence. This followed the National Audit Office Value for Money Report on Inland Flood Defences. The Treasury Minute in response can be obtained from the Office of Public Sector Information (Command Paper number Cm 5512). A debate was held on 29 January 2003 to consider this and other Committee reports for the 2001-02 session. Flooding and coastal erosion however did not feature greatly in it.
Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs (ETRA) Committee
The Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee shadowed the work of the former Department of the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs from 1997 to 2001.
- Development on, or affecting, the Flood Plain (Second Report, 2000-01 Session), Minutes of Evidence and Appendices and Government Response.
- The Environment Agency (Sixth Report, 1999-00 Session), Minutes of Evidence and Appendices, Government Response and Response from the Environment Agency (Third Special Report, 1999-00 Session)
National Audit Office
The National Audit Office scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament and is independent of Government. It audits the accounts of all government departments and agencies as well as a wide range of other public bodies, and reports to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which government bodies have used public money. Three reports have been completed in the area of flood and coastal erosion riskin recent years:
- 2006-07 Session: Building and maintaining river and coastal flood defences in England
- 2000-01 Session: Value for Money Report on Inland Flood Defences. See also The Eighteenth Report from the Public Accounts Committee and PAC Debate above.
- 1992-93 Session: Value for Money Report on Coastal Defences in England. This is not published on the Internet but ordering details are available on the NAO website.
Page last modified: 26 March 2008
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published: 5 June 2003