Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will review the National Adaption Plan in order to reflect the risk to public health from toxins in flood water.

Rory Stewart

Due to dilution and the lack of high-risk enteric infectious diseases endemic in the UK, the relative risks from contaminated floodwater are low, especially if public health advice is followed. Public Health England carries out active surveillance for outbreaks of infectious diseases, and other illnesses.

The first National Adaptation Programme report identifies the actions needed to prepare for the impacts of climate change, including the threats of extreme weather and flooding, and addresses the risks identified in the first UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) published in January 2012. Work is under way on preparing the second CCRA which will underpin the second National Adaptation Programme report due around 2018.