Clause 13

Part of Flood and Water Management Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:45 pm on 14 January 2010.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Marine and Natural Environment) 2:45, 14 January 2010

Yes, I think that I can explain that because I certainly exercised my mind on the matter when the hon. Lady’s amendment was tabled. I have tried to see the implications on either side. Just to reassure her, we are confident that the current drafting, which uses “may”, rather than “must”, and which we have done through parliamentary counsel and so on, is appropriate for the reasons that I will give in a moment.

The amendment uses the word “must” and would therefore require relevant authorities to share information, but it is not necessary because the duty to co-operate already entails a duty to share information if that is part of the co-operation. The purpose of subsection (2) is also to permit one relevant authority proactively to offer information to another authority without being asked.

I have explored the matter in some detail, so let me practically illustrate it. If we insert the word “must” into the provision to give that certainty—I understand where the hon. Lady is coming from—it could be a retrograde step. Doing so would require all relevant bodies, including, for example, water companies and highway authorities, proactively to go through all their paper and computer records, and find and pass on any information that they thought might be relevant to another risk management authority’s duties under part 2.

The amendment would put a huge obligation on such organisations that is probably beyond the necessary information that is actually required. It would certainly militate against the idea of encouraging people to work in partnership and volunteer information that they thought useful. It would send a lot of people in back offices running around as a result of their chief executives saying, “We’ve now got this duty; we must comply. Get out there, find everything we do and pile it there in front of them.”