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The government’s floods resilience taskforce is being relaunched with drought added to its remit, and meets in its new form on 14 October. The Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce, hosted by Floods and Drought Minister Emma Hardy, brings together more than 50 organisations including the Environment Agency, the Met Office, mayoral authorities, fire and rescue services and the farming, water and insurance sectors, with a stated aim of giving affected communities a greater say in policy.

A wider remit, not new powers

The taskforce is a relaunch of the Floods Resilience Taskforce set up in September 2024. Sky News reported that it will not have any new powers, and that ministers have not taken up two recommendations made by the Environmental Audit Committee last year: a single helpline for flood victims and an overall target for flood defences. The National Drought Group keeps its role coordinating the operational response to drought, while the taskforce takes a longer view of preparedness for both. According to the Defra announcement, the first meeting will review readiness for flooding this winter, which the government says has improved on last year, alongside early lessons from the current drought. Hardy said flood and drought were intertwined and that the government was taking a more joined-up approach to managing water.

Context and funding

Defra points to a wet winter followed by the third drought in five years and the driest July in almost two centuries, and the Met Office has warned of a heightened chance of wet and stormy weather this autumn. The government has committed at least £10.5 billion to flood defences in England between 2024 and 2036, with £1.4 billion being spent on building and repairing defences in 2026/27, and estimates that each £1 invested avoids around £8 of economic damage. Farmers have been offered £65 million to build resilience to drought. The announcement does not set out a specific coastal flooding or erosion workstream, and the taskforce’s full membership has not been published.

Sources:

• Defra: New taskforce to boost Britain’s resilience to flooding and drought
• Sky News (via Radio X): UK floods taskforce told to start looking at drought
• Irish News (PA): Flood and drought taskforce to convene ahead of potential extreme winter weather
• Defra in the media: Coverage following the first meeting of the Floods Resilience Taskforce (2024)