Chamber and committees

Measures to reduce emissions in Scotland will, by themselves, have no significant impact on reducing flood risk. Climate change is a global issue: it will require emission reductions at the global level to reduce its impacts. The Scottish Government has, however, taken steps to assess the impacts of climate change on Scotland. In connection with flood risk, in 2003 it published Climate Change: Review of Levels of Protection Offered by Flood Prevention Schemes UKCIP02 Update, available on the Scottish Government website at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/02/18789/32039.

This research provides an overview of the expected increased river and coastal flood risk in Scotland as a result of predicted climate change.

The future climate scenarios used as the basis of the above research were published by the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) in 2002, available at www.ukcip.org.uk, under the assumption of medium-high global emissions with the resulting increase in global temperature of 3.3 celsius. The UKCIP climate scenarios, including sea level rise, do not specifically take account of global or national strategies to mitigate climate change through emissions reductions measures and policies. The scenarios are based on assumptions of different development paths for the world ranging from low emissions development through to high emissions development.

The Scottish Government has not made estimates over these timescales nor do we differentiate between coastal flooding defence expenditure and other flood prevention or coast protection expenditure.

The government has distributed £126 million to local authorities for flood prevention and coast protection over the period 2008-11, rolled up into local authorities'' capital grant. It is, of course, for the local authority to decide how to allocate the total package of capital funding at its disposal according to local priorities.

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The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) flood map shows an estimate of the areas of Scotland with a 0.5% or greater probability of being flooded in any given year “ in other words, those areas estimated to have a one in 200 or greater chance of being flooded in any given year. It provides an indication of areas likely to flood but is not appropriate for assessing risk to individual properties and cannot replace studies at a local scale. Information on housing developments approved by planning authorities in these areas is not held centrally.

The total project value of the flood prevention schemes under the 1961 act which started in each year from 2000 to 2008 is in the following table:

Financial Year	Total Project Value (£)
1999-2000	125,752.00
2000-01	12,967,040.00
2001-02	1,934,230.80
2002-03	10,969,307.00
2003-04	4,026,898.00
2004-05	1,354,107.00
2005-06	-
2006-07	67,635,745.72
2007-08	89,556,070.00

 

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency''s Floodline 0845 988 1188 is a 24 hour telephone number available to the public that gives the option of listening to a recorded message for a local area or being put through to an operator to answer any other flood-related problems and questions. Operators can put the public through to specialist staff to answer more specific or specialized questions.

Improvements to existing flood defences are a matter for local authorities to determine. Any planned improvements to existing flood defences around the coastline of the Forth Estuary lie with the relevant local authorities and not the Scottish Government.

On 13 August 2007, the Scottish Government confirmed to Falkirk Council the Bo''ness Flood Prevention Scheme. The £8 million Bo''ness scheme proposes improving defences to provide continuous embankment/barriers along the foreshore of the Forth between Kinniel in the west to Carriden at the east of the town to protect the town centre from tidal floods.

Under the Coast Protection Act, 1949, local authorities have wide powers to carry out coast protection work, as may appear to them to be necessary or expedient for the protection of any land from coastal erosion. However, it is for local authorities to determine when to use these powers in light of the needs of their local area.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency provides information about flood defences for homes and businesses on its website. Specific information about the type of products available for flood prevention can be found at:

www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/publications/leaflets/flood/alleviation.pdf.

Perth and Kinross, North Ayrshire, and Argyll and Bute councils have carried out flood prevention schemes against coastal flooding in the last ten years.

In autumn 2007, we increased entitlement to pre-school education from 412.5 to 475 hours per annum. As part of the concordat between COSLA and Scottish ministers, local government has agreed to increase the entitlement to 570 hours per annum in August 2010. We are now starting to consider options to deliver the final step in achieving a 50% increase in entitlement by 2011.