To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what actions his Department is taking to ensure home and business insurance is available for coastal communities where sea or Lough flooding is becoming a more common occurrence.

My officials have worked closely with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) in relation to insurance and flood risk issues. The UK Government and members of the ABI operate Flood Re, which is a joint initiative established in 2014 and is effectively a not-for-profit flood insurance scheme. Its aim is to make the flood cover element of household insurance policies more affordable, particularly to householders whose homes are in areas at high risk of flooding. Flood Re has reported that 3,047 households in the North benefitted from the scheme in 2020.

The Flood Re scheme does not include businesses, which require commercial insurance which is often bespoke and based on the individual nature of the business.