The next item of business is a statement by Paul Wheelhouse on severe winter weather impacts and Scotland’s response. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement. There should therefore be no interruptions or interventions.
14:40
I want to update the Parliament on the impacts across Scotland of the severe winter weather that we have experienced over the festive period, and to give details of the tremendous work that has been carried out by the emergency services, other responders, local communities and individuals to mitigate the impacts of the storms during the past two weeks.
As I have seen for myself when I have visited areas that have been affected by flooding, there is no good time to be hit with flood damage, power outages, transport disruption and other severe weather impacts. However, over the Christmas and new year period such scenarios were particularly challenging for the families and businesses that had to deal with the impacts and for the people in the responder organisations that are tasked with dealing with the consequences. Our thoughts are with all those people—thankfully, small in number—whose Christmas and new year were adversely affected by the weather, whether through short periods of lost power, property flooding or disrupted travel.
Particular credit must go to the many hundreds of staff across the police and fire and rescue services, local authorities, utility companies and other key organisations, who sacrificed big elements of the Christmas and new year period to ensure a safe and secure festive period for so many people.
The Scottish Government resilience operation had already been active earlier in December, working on weather issues in partnership with agencies and organisations such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Transport Scotland, Police Scotland, power companies and local authorities, before we experienced the severe weather that impacted on the festive period.
Thanks to the resilience partnerships’ work across Scotland, responders were given an early warning by the Met Office, in the week before Christmas, of the potential for severe weather. That put all the relevant organisations at national and local level on alert and allowed them to warn the public and inform them of what was expected, what they could do to protect themselves and what mitigating action was being taken by the authorities, including the targeted deployment of staff and resources to the areas that were most likely to be affected.
The Scottish Government’s resilience room was activated and the emergency committee held 15 meetings from Christmas eve until this week, including on Christmas day, hogmanay and new year’s day, with involvement throughout from ministers across relevant portfolios and with close involvement from the First Minister. That co-ordinated effort, with the regular sharing of detailed information on the location and level of risk faced by areas across Scotland, helped to ensure that local authorities, the emergency services and the communities that they serve could put in place crucial protection measures and prepare for the worst of the weather impacts.
Such measures included the use of demountable defences in Oban, which stopped floodwater reaching the heart of the town, and the deployment of Dumfries and Galloway’s mobile flood pod, which I saw for myself last week and which provided flood protection equipment, including flood gates, to properties in Dumfries and Newton Stewart.
No one in the Parliament would expect Scotland to be immune from severe weather during the winter months. However, what we have experienced so far, although it is not unprecedented, has been particularly unusual. To compare the recent spell with the numerous periods of stormy weather in the past, the Met Office’s national climate information centre has done an analysis of the number of weather stations in Scotland that have registered winds over certain thresholds since the start of December. That suggests that December 2013 was one of the stormiest months in Scotland since January 1993. Temperatures for the month were well above average, especially in Scotland—indeed, for Scotland and for the UK overall, it was the mildest December since 1988.
With respect to rainfall, it was Scotland’s wettest December according to records dating back to 1910. Many areas saw nearly twice the average rainfall, and there were few dry spells that would have allowed saturated land to drain and high river, loch and reservoir levels to reduce. For example, Callander received some 540mm of rain in December—that is 21 inches of rain, or 240 per cent of the average for the area—with more than 20mm of rain on 18 days.
We will no doubt face further spells of challenging weather before winter is over. Vigilance remains the key word and our resilience operation will continue actively to monitor the weather and work with partners to identify potential threats and respond accordingly over the coming weeks.
A widespread flood risk was continually present across the festive period. Indeed, flood warnings have been continually in place for parts of Tayside since mid-December. As at 12.45 this afternoon, seven flood warnings and three flood alerts were still in place in Scotland, despite the relatively improved weather picture over the past few days.
Although most of the weather that we saw was in line with normal winter expectations, it was unusual to see front after front without a sustained break that would have allowed saturated ground and river catchments to recover from the abnormally high levels of rainfall. That effect was combined with the effects of tidal surges in the west and east, and, in places, very strong winds, which created periods of coastal flood risk.
Some smaller catchments are particularly responsive to severe rainfall events, as I saw when I visited Jedburgh in my capacity as a regional member. Parts of Dumfries and Galloway, the Borders and Ayrshire saw some of the worst flooding in living memory, while communities on large parts of the west coast, in the islands, along the various east coast firths and in the north-east experienced the damaging effects of storm surges, high tides and severe gales.
The joint SEPA-Met Office Scottish flood forecasting service was active in providing early guidance on flood risk to local responders, which was invaluable in allowing them to put in place measures to respond to potential flooding. Unfortunately, it was not possible to prevent flooding everywhere, but the efforts of our responders consistently helped to mitigate its impacts. I heard at first hand how important that early notification was during my visit to see the effects of flooding in Dumfries and in visiting Govan police station to witness the preparedness efforts against coastal flooding.
In addition to undertaking work proactively to support the emergency responders, SEPA engaged directly with the public through its excellent floodline direct warning system, providing flood warnings and alerts to the public that allowed them to make informed decisions about how to manage their own potential flood risk. Over the past month, SEPA issued a total of 360 flood alert and flood warning messages, which meant that there were almost 100,000 text or telephone alerts to customers registered with floodline. Since mid-December, SEPA has had 1,250 new registrations to its floodline service—an increase of 7 per cent—meaning that almost 18,200 people across flood-vulnerable areas of Scotland are now registered for that valuable service. It is an invaluable resource, and I encourage members to publicise it to further increase registrations.
I am sure that members will also support me in reiterating my thanks to emergency responders across Scotland. Despite their own personal commitments and desires for the festive period, they were consistently available and active in taking proportionate responses to identified flood risks and protecting our communities. That preparedness was essential and invaluable, but, in terms of flood risk management, it is only part of the picture. Next week, I will host a summit with local authorities and other key partners, such as Scottish Water and SEPA, at which we will take stock of the work that will culminate during the latter stages of 2014-15 to produce the first ever round of flood risk management plans. Those are informed by SEPA’s work on producing our first ever national flood risk assessment and the new flood risk and hazard maps that SEPA will publicise next week, which identify the sources and receptors of flood risk, including by mapping velocity and the depth of flows to inform local responders. That work will inform flood risk management strategies throughout Scotland and will support us in targeting efforts to plan and invest in the reduction of impacts in areas that are vulnerable to flooding.
Investment is essential to support efforts to manage and, where possible, reduce flood risk. In the light of this demonstration of the potential impacts that flooding can have on communities, businesses, transport networks and individuals, I reiterate that flood risk management is a priority for the Scottish Government. Only a relatively small number of properties have been damaged by localised flooding, and we have not experienced the significant damage or disruption that have been seen in other parts of the UK, to which I extend my sympathies. The benefit of the flood warning and flood risk management actions demonstrates value from our investment.
We have continuously maintained and protected our support for SEPA and, in conjunction with our partners in the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, we have maintained the element of the local authority settlement that is identified for flood protection. The Scottish Government has continued to invest in supporting actions to reduce flood risk, including protecting SEPA’s budget at £37.5 million and increasing it, in challenging financial circumstances, to £39.5 million in 2015-16. Local authorities can also apply for funding for large new flood protection schemes using capital funding worth £42 million a year. That investment is making a difference and will stand us in good stead. We will aim to maintain it as we move forward, recognising that climate change raises an expectation of more frequent severe weather events, not least because of recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections of 0.26m to 0.83m increases in global sea levels, which would see our sea defences come under ever-increasing pressure.
Over the immediate Christmas period, around 26,000 customers experienced power disruption due the extreme high winds. However, the majority of those customers in locations right across Scotland were reconnected within a few hours and very few were without power for more than 24 hours. During the rest of the festive period, a small number of customers—hundreds rather than thousands—suffered power outages at various points but power was restored to almost all of them within hours, which was a remarkable effort given that it was achieved despite very testing conditions.
Both Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution deal with harsh conditions every winter in Scotland and, as a result, they were well prepared for the situation that arose. The 875 linesmen, engineers, contractors and tree cutters and the more than 140 call centre staff who, in many cases, gave up their own time deserve our thanks for their efforts in very challenging conditions. [Applause.] Both companies deserve our praise and recognition for their tremendous efforts in Scotland over the festive period. My colleague Fergus Ewing has written to the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets to show the Scottish Government’s support for the efforts of Scottish Power and SSE, which must be properly recognised in the post mortem that Ofgem is currently undertaking.
Scotland’s transport network stood up remarkably well to the severe weather conditions and, through the swift action of dedicated staff, disruption was kept to a minimum. Inevitably, given the storm force winds and terrible sea conditions, our ferry services were worst hit, but operators tried to be as flexible as possible and to make journeys when it was safe to do so. That included CalMac Ferries taking the unprecedented step of running special sailings to North Uist and Harris on Christmas day and, again, we should recognise and applaud the public spiritedness of CalMac staff. [Applause.]
Transport Scotland’s traffic control centre was active in monitoring the situation. Keith Brown, the Minister for Transport and Veterans, was involved throughout, and the multi-agency co-ordination team was called up to help to manage emerging issues.
In recognition of the financial burden that severe weather incidents and their impacts can place on local authorities, on behalf of the Scottish Government, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, John Swinney, formally triggered the Bellwin scheme on hogmanay.
As I said, the weather that Scotland has faced over the past two weeks may not have been unprecedented, but it has been particularly unusual and presented challenges for responders and the communities that they sought to protect. The same could be said about the response of the many authorities and organisations involved in keeping Scotland running. It was not an unprecedented response—they are all well practised in working in partnership—but it was unusual and, indeed, exceptional, given the scale of the response and the sacrifice of many who gave up their festive celebrations to make sure that others could enjoy theirs.
We always look to learn lessons, but we can be proud that when a severe test was presented Scotland’s responders demonstrated that they were resilient in the face of that challenge.
I thank the minister for early sight of the statement.
As the minister acknowledged, the holiday period is a time when we should all be able to relax. However, due to the severe weather, it has been a very challenging time for many households and communities. It is essential that the Scottish Government gives all possible support to those affected as they come to terms with their situation after the initial clear-up. The statement is a welcome step in that regard.
Will the minister clarify how the budget for the Bellwin scheme will be distributed, what the application process is and what the budget is?
I have concerns about the floodline warning systems for the future. I highlight to the minister that it was not possible to get detailed advice in Clydesdale by Friday 3 January, despite the area having been severely flooded earlier in the week. The Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee argued in the budget recommendations that it is essential
“to ensure greater consistency across Scotland.”
Will the minister guarantee that the position will be reviewed urgently? Will he give us an update on flood insurance issues?
Partnership working is imperative and it would be helpful if the minister could clarify what assessment has been made of whether any alteration should be made to the present arrangements for communication between partners, including local authorities. Will there be a report from next week’s welcome summit?
Sadly, it has now been proven that there is an even more urgent need for robust funding for coastal and river flood defences. The response was rapid and we cannot prevent floods everywhere, as the minister said, but will he urgently review the budget in view of severe weather patterns? Alongside those funding imperatives lie the Scottish Government’s commitments to climate change mitigation. Will the minister clarify what arrangements are in place for the related research budget and whether that could be increased due to severe weather developments?
I hope that I will be able to cover all those questions to some degree. I welcome Claudia Beamish’s positive tone. As I am sure she knows, the deployment of the Bellwin scheme is based on eligibility for funding, for which there are well-specified criteria. We should welcome the fact that the scheme is open. Indeed, it was reassuring to the likes of Dumfries and Galloway Council when I met it, as it knew that the Bellwin scheme would help it with exceptional costs in this situation. Repairs will be on a like-for-like basis—the eligibility rules are strict in that regard, but I am sure that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth will look at and deal fairly with any applications that come in.
On communications between parties, as is the case with every incident, we are looking at where improvements might be made. We have just moved to the new Police Scotland structure and we have our three new regional partnerships in place. This is the first major test that they have faced, so I would be surprised if things did not come out of the situation that we needed to tighten up on. I assure the member that I will act on messages of that nature, should there be any, and ensure that we address any communication difficulties.
As far as the issue of urgency is concerned, I think that the situation was dealt with with all due urgency. I point out that the budget that the Scottish Government deploys—the £42 million of capital funding—works out at roughly three times the amount that is funded per property at risk in England, so we can be relatively comfortable about the level of resource that the Scottish Government is dedicating to the task. As always, we will keep such issues under close watch and will ensure that we try to provide as much resource as possible to tackle what is, as Claudia Beamish rightly identified, a severe test for us as a society as we seek to deal with climate change.
I agree that such events reinforce how urgent it is for all societies to engage in climate change mitigation. Specifically in relation to Scotland and the role of the Scottish Parliament, they emphasise that we should take our climate change mitigation responsibilities extremely seriously. I assure Claudia Beamish that that is, as I am sure that she is aware, a very high priority for me as a minister.
I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement and add my thanks to those whom he thanked in it. I am sure that the difficulties were significant for those people who had to suffer Christmas day without electricity, but they were nothing compared with those of the workers who spent Christmas day up a pole in the teeth of a driving gale and driving rain trying to restore power supplies. The minister mentioned CalMac. I would like to extend his thanks to Scotland’s many outstanding private ferry operators, who demonstrated the public service motivation that lies behind their business model. They should be thanked, too.
My questions relate to SEPA. The first one is fairly specific. Is the delay in the regional pluvial, fluvial and coastal contracts and the subsequent delay in SEPA’s submission of flood risk and flood hazard maps to the European Union likely to lead to delay in the publication of the flood risk management plans, which is to happen by 2015?
On the subject of SEPA, I acknowledge the minister’s considerable effort in relation to the floods that happened a year ago in my backyard in Stonehaven and his timely visit to see the situation there. However, in the year that has passed since then, it has been indicated that SEPA might be a stumbling block when it comes to finding short-term and effective remedies for some of the causes of flooding in that situation. That said, it might also be the case that SEPA is being used as an excuse for the inability of other agencies to act in a timely way.
Is it time for the minister, as a representative of the Government that effectively straightened out SEPA in 2008, to look at SEPA’s actions in relation to flood management to identify whether any improvement could be made to the structures or whether the problem lies elsewhere?
I identify with Mr Johnstone’s comments about the private ferry operators. I am aware that they played an important role during the troubles that we had over the festive period.
On SEPA, I highlight the positive contribution that it makes in enabling us to be prepared for such incidents. The flood warning systems that it has in place are of huge value, as I heard directly from responders in Dumfries and elsewhere. For operators of key industrial sites such as Grangemouth, having the ability to predict, within very tight margins, at what time of day flood waters will hit has been hugely helpful, just as it has been for local responders.
On flood risk plans and the new maps that are being produced, I met David Sigsworth, James Curran and colleagues this morning to get an update. They met the December deadline—just—for providing the maps. That was a challenging task that involved the marshalling of a huge amount of data from local authorities. In some cases, local authorities said that, in effect, the requirement to provide data to underpin the maps doubled the amount of data that they have to store at local authority level. That gives members an idea of the scale of the task.
It will be challenging to meet the deadline to have the maps finalised and the action plans put in place, but we are still aiming to meet it. If there are resource issues, the Government will try to do what it can to assist SEPA. There is a capacity issue with the number of quality hydrologists who are available to us. In the past, we have tried to pump-prime the number of hydrologists coming through the university sector to underpin the workforce that we need. I certainly give the member an assurance that I will keep an eye on that issue and that I will do what I can to support SEPA from the point of view of resourcing.
As for the issue of SEPA being used as a scapegoat, I have seen certain reports that suggest that in some cases it is being unfairly blamed for problems that are being encountered at local level. I will take each case on its merits and, if need be, make representations on that front.
As far as Stonehaven is concerned, I hope that Alex Johnstone welcomes the warning scheme that is now up and running on the Carron, which is an example of the investment programme that SEPA has put in place to ensure that local responders and communities are equipped with the quality of information they need to make the kind of timely response that we have seen over the past couple of weeks. I hope that that will assure the member that SEPA is doing everything it can and that it, like me, is treating the issue as a very high priority.
I am sure that members will have noted that we have only 10 minutes left for nine questioners. As I need to protect the debate that is coming afterwards, which is itself very tight for time, I cannot allow any more time for the ministerial statement and therefore ask for questions and answers to be kept as short as possible to ensure that we get everyone in.
I welcome the statement and the hard work done not just by the minister himself but by other ministers over the past few weeks. Given the high level of rainfall and severe wind conditions in Scotland over the past number of weeks, what further steps is the minister taking to safeguard all vital services and minimise disruption to residents, and what lessons has he learned in that respect?
I will try to be as brief as possible but I should say that we appreciate Keith Brown’s efforts over the period to keep close control of what was happening with transport. Of course we cannot control the weather and disruption can never be ruled out, but as a result of the coastal event we have identified certain vulnerability points on the Ardrossan line and in other areas that we need to be mindful of. However, because these things had been experienced before, the transport operators took steps such as ensuring that replacement bus services were in place in the expectation of the event happening.
We ensure that, where known, lessons from previous events and winters are identified, considered and acted upon and we have improved the operation of the Government’s own emergency arrangements, including the traffic Scotland national control centre at Queensferry, in which Keith Brown virtually set up camp during the period in question. The multi-agency response team has been activated six times already this winter to deal with instances of high winds, heavy rain and times of high risk; we also remain ready to deal with severe weather events on our trunk roads and have invested in new equipment and materials, including gritters, ice breakers and alternative de-icers that, despite the recent weather, might well need to be deployed at some point this winter. We have also improved communication with our key operators such as CalMac and other private ferry operators to ensure that services run as smoothly as possible.
I, too, thank the staff in West Dunbartonshire and in Argyll and Bute for their work but I am sure that the minister will acknowledge that the areas that have flooded are those that have ever done so. Are the flood prevention schemes that are under development on the River Leven and Gruggies burn likely to attract Scottish Government support?
I am happy to meet the member to discuss the specific aspects of the Leven scheme. Clearly our partners in COSLA have a process for assessing all applications that come in at £2 million or over; I am not sure of the specifics with regard to the cost of the scheme on the Leven, but I imagine that it will be substantial.
We have a well-established mechanism and an open application process in place. The deadline is 21 January and, no matter whether we are talking about this or a subsequent round, I am very gratified that COSLA has agreed to continue to pool those resources and fund the major schemes that we as a country need to ensure that our key communities are protected with timely and appropriate investment. As I have said, I am happy to discuss that particular project with the member.
The minister will be aware that many settlements on the Dumfries and Galloway coast were affected by this severe weather and that, at present, the region receives only a general warning of the likelihood of such an event. Given the length and varied topography of the region’s coastline, will the minister give consideration to how more specific and localised coastal flood warnings can be issued in future?
Certainly. We have recently implemented the Forth and Tay coastal warning scheme; I will have to check the number but I think that there are 11 or 12 different locations along the coastline—including Eyemouth, the place I live closest to—that have specific warnings in place. I hope that I can reassure the member by saying that SEPA, in its forward programme for developing warning schemes, has such a scheme planned for the Solway coast for 2015; that too will involve a number of locations on that coastline in providing detailed warnings. However, I have told the leader and chief executive of Dumfries and Galloway Council that I am looking to them for advice about particular sites and river systems in Dumfries and Galloway where they feel that such a scheme would add particular value and we will then consider the resources required to provide that.
Will the minister ensure that the Bellwin formula applies to the subsea cable between Shetland and the UK network that was broken, which cut off broadband and mobile communications on 28 December? Will he ensure that such communications, which BT will invest in this year across the whole of the west coast of Scotland, are protected in the future, and will he investigate how that can best be done?
I cannot give any assurances on the specifics, but I am happy to look at the issue that Tavish Scott mentions, as I appreciate the severity of the matter to the local economy in Shetland. I will liaise with my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth on eligibility under the Bellwin scheme. I would be happy to look at that particular issue if Tavish Scott writes to me.
Can the minister clarify whether phase 2 of Edinburgh’s vital flood scheme will be eligible for funding from the £42 million to which he referred, as that much-delayed £25 million scheme is currently £6 million short?
Our position on that is that it is obviously for COSLA to prioritise which schemes are funded. In the case of the Water of Leith, we have a historic scheme that has been funded to date, so we have already committed funding. I appreciate the difficulties that the City of Edinburgh Council faced in procurement. It has ended up with more expensive contracts than it anticipated and faces exceptional costs.
We have to try to fund a number of other schemes. We have legacy schemes from previous legislation. There is the Brechin scheme, and the Ettrick scheme and other schemes, which will apply by the 21 January deadline, have come forward.
All that I can say is that I will happily meet Sarah Boyack—I met Mr Biagi to discuss a similar issue—to explore the detail in that case and explain the circumstances in relation to the current funding package.
Constituents in Aberdeenshire West, especially in areas such as Huntly, have benefited from the flood prevention methods that are already in place and welcome the early warning alert systems. Will the minister expand on his comments on the Scottish Government’s national resilience work? Does he believe that the work that was done over the past few weeks actually worked well?
I preface my remarks by saying that we always look to learn from anything that did not go well and try to improve on what happened. Nothing has been brought to me yet that demonstrates that there was any issue in that respect.
Thanks to the joint work that we have developed across the partners—obviously, I have stressed the role of local government, the police and fire services, local responders, our transport operators and power companies—we have all the relevant organisations at the national and local levels working together to ensure that we prepare for such events and respond in as resilient a fashion as possible. Our resilience officials constantly monitor the situation and feed back into learning points any examples of things that did not work well, which we take forward for similar incidents. It is key that, with floods in places that are not covered by schemes, such as Newton Stewart, we learn from the exact circumstances that affected them and feed that back in so that, if a similar weather situation arises, we can predict that something similar might happen at the local level, until such time as, hopefully, we have a warning scheme in place.
How have the repairs to the two dozen or so harbours that were damaged by the storms of December 2012 from Caithness south held up in this winter’s storms, as they have been joined by damage on the west coast due to higher tides, record high waves and heavier rainfall, which I believe have become a new and worrying norm?
The Government has been proactive in supporting a number of fisheries’ harbours that were damaged as a consequence of the storms in December 2012. The feedback that we have received from resilience partnerships is that none of those has been damaged and that incidents have not been repeated, but obviously we will wait to see what detailed applications come in under the Bellwin scheme from local authorities, just in case anything has been missed.
Over the festive period, I was in New Cumnock with local councillors, particularly at Millar Road, which was very badly affected by the flood, and can confirm the minister’s view that the efforts of the police, the fire service, the local authority and utility services were deeply satisfactory, as far as they were concerned. However, a point was raised about the accumulation of silt in the nearby River Afton. There was an indication that it is believed locally that that was the result of a policy that is supported by SEPA. Is that policy in place? Should it be reconsidered, given that the water that was displaced by that silt affected the local community?
I am very happy to look at that specific issue, because I am aware that twice in the past couple of weeks there were problems in the Afton and that silt and gravel build-up can cause problems. At local level, the allegation might be that SEPA is responsible for that in some respect. However, we should bear in mind that, like the Scottish Government, SEPA is bound by European directives. We therefore need to look at the situation in the Afton to see whether it relates to the habitats directive and specific issues with regard to compliance with European regulation, or whether it is indeed just an operational issue that we can sort out more easily.
I apologise to Stuart McMillan whom I am unable to call for a question, because we need to move to the next item of business.
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