The Scottish Government is determined to reduce the devastating and costly impacts of flooding across the whole country. The flood risk management strategies, which were published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in December 2015, have been developed with that intention. They co-ordinate the efforts of all the organisations that are responsible for tackling flooding, and they concentrate the work of those organisations in the areas where the risk of flooding and the benefits of investment are greatest.

We now have the most advanced, nationally consistent and locally informed understanding of the causes and consequences of flooding in Scotland that we have ever had.