This morning i had meetings with minister, colleagues and others and in addition i will have further such meetings later today. Caroline lucas. Thank you. Our hearts go out to everyones whose lives are being devastated by the current floods. Im sure we welcome the Prime Ministers promise yesterday you will do everything he can both with the relief efforts and building more resilient country for the future. It will be both complacent and ignorant to flout the warnings of his office and adviser who warn Climate Change will lead to even more such events in the future. And can we confirm for the house d everyone in my write constituency doing everything he can will reverse cuts to the budget and proper funding for flood prevention. Increasingly Prime Minister maybe he shouldnt reassure let me reassure the honorable lady i listen very carefully to my experts in the mets office and Environment Agency. Every cobra meeting starts with a briefing from the mets office. I think it is clear we are seeing extreme weather events and i suspect we will see extreme weather events and need to do everything we can to improve the resilience of our country. Let me repeat again when it comes to this relief effort, money is no object. We will spend what is necessary to help families, to help people, to people communities get through this very difficult time. I have to say things are likely to get worse before they get better because of the very high levels of rainfall we have seen and we have seen serious high winds as we speak here in this house today. But whatever can be done to help will be done. Mark pritchard. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Last year my swept Georgia Williams was brutally murdered. They subsequent trial it was revealed her attacker previously attacked another young grl five years earlier and young unbelievably, that attacker got off with the earlier offense with just a police caution, a written warning. Will the Prime Minister join me in calling for police to publish all relevant material relating to that earlier case in order that any lesson thats can be learned will be learned . First of all, hes absolutely right to take up his constituents case in this way and has written to me about this specific case. My sympathy goes out to the family of friends of Georgia Williams. As hes cast, i understand the independent Police Complaints commission is considering the response to the referral of the handling of this case and what needs to be published on the cautions we announce last year were banning the use of simple cautions for all but the most serious offenses including ran slaughter, rape and robbery as one of the range of other offense thats devastate lives and tear apart communities. Clearly this is a tragic case. We must get to the bottom of what went wrong. I join the Prime Minister in expressing my sympathy to the people affected by the floods, who have been driven out of their homes and facing disruption to their lives. I also join him in paying tribute to all of those helping with relief efforts and to the extraordinary resilience we have seen in the last few weeks of the people of our country. You will know the people in affected communities are relieved help in the armed forces and Emergency Services arrived but many people they were sent in too late. With further flooding expected in the coming hours and days, can the province provide an assurance that people will be getting help in team, not after the event . I can certainly give that assurance. Let me repeat again it is important as he said to praise our Emergency Services, to praise volunteers, to praise all of those working for the Environment Agency who work night and day around the clock to help our communities. They really have done amazing work and we should thaveragee them. In terms of the engagement of the military, i think it is important, its always been possible for gold commanders in these emergency situations to call on military assets, indeed a military Liaison Officer is supposed to sit with those commanders and liaise with them. What we have done in recent days is say clearly to all of the local authorities concerned we have contacted them individually if you want military assistance, dont think twice about it, think once and then ask and they will be there. So weve got to now thousands of military as a state of readiness to help out, a huge number have already been deployed and yes, as we see the levels potentially rising on the thames again coming into this weekend, we should do everything we can now to get extra help into those communities that could be affected and make sure they are helped. All military assistance required is there. People only have to ask. Mr. Speaker, i welcome that promise of proactive help from the Prime Minister. Given the forecast of extreme weather and with the levels rising, one of the key issue thats will concern people is not just their homes but continuing gas and electricity supplies. We slerned from previous experience in 2007 that protecting electricity substations that can be responsible for power to hundreds of thousands of homes is of particular importance. Can you reassure the house about the steps being entertain to protect these Vital Services . I can give you that assurance. My right officer from the policy carried out the review. And a lot scraff steps were taken following that and that made a difference. Also in the cobra system were monitoring those particular bits of infrastructure that could be under threat. In recent days its about Water Treatment works and electricity works. I also spoke to the minister responsible for Energy Policy at this mornings cobra to make sure that everything is done to contact the Energy Companies to send out the people necessary if they refer the supply interruptions over the coming days. I think the experience there, where there were problems in kent after christmas, since then, the Energy Companies on the Network Companies have done better job of reconnecting people more quickly. I thank the Prime Minister for that answer. One of the reassurances he provided yesterday as he said in an earlier answer was to say money is no object. But this morning the transport check is not a blank check. Can you tell the house exactly what areas of spending yesterdays comments covers . I was clear last night and let me repeat again, as i said last night, money is no object in this relief effort. I want communities who are suffering and people who see water lapping at their doors to know when it comes to the military, when it comes to sandbags, when it comes to Emergency Services, when it comes to restoring broken flood defenses, all of those things, money is no object and to be fair to the transport secretary, this is what he sd this morning. Money is not the issue while were in this relief job. Thats what he said. Hes absolutely right. Hes absolutely right about the relief effort he also said we will spend whatever it takes to recover from this and to make sure we have a resilient country for the future. Let me give you an example in that context. Yesterday he praised the Environment Agency staff. They were in the process this year of making 550 people deal with flooding redundant. These are staff who helped put in play and maintain flood defenses and help deal with cleanup. If money is no object as he said, is he committing now to reconsider those redundancies . Let me tell you exactly what were doing with the Environment Agency and flood defense budget, were spending 2. 4 billion over the fouryear period between 2010 and 2014 and that compares to just 2. 2 billion in the previous fouryear period. But what i can say to the house, and i think this is important, as the waters recede, it will be important for the Environment Agency, for local authorities, all to look again at the flood patterns we have seen at the models that they have and workout what fresh defenses will be necessary. In addition to that, i can tell the house that we will be introducing a draft for all affect the homeowners and businesses for building better flood protection as they repair their properties. That will be up to 5,000 pounds per house and per business. On top of that, were announcing a 10 million fund to help farmers who have seen their land waterlogged day after day, week after week and i request also announce today that we will be deferring the tax payments, the businesses have to pay and all of the businesses that had been affected by floods will get 100 business rate relief. Mr. Speaker, you said our welcome, we will be welcomed across the house. I will be welcomed across the house but im afraid he didnt answer the specific question i asked, which is about the 550 people at the Environment Agency are planning to make redundant that work that work on flood defenses. They are people who are currently helping with the cleanup and put in place food defenses. Similarly on these two spending on flood defense, committee on Climate Change said were spending significantly less on flood defense than we should. So my question is a simple one, given yesterdays promise to make sure we have a resilient country for the future and spend whatever it takes, is he committing now to reconsider these redundancies and reconsider the amount of money we invest in flood defense . Let me tell what you were doing with the environment agent budget into the future. The Environment Agency budget in terms of Capital Spending we set out figures all the way up to 2020. We only made Capital Spending pledges in areas like transport and in terms of flood defenses, pledges that no one else is able to match, particularly not if theyre committed to zerobased Budget Review but promise is we are happy to make so people can see how much money will be spent on flood defenses 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020. Were only able to make those pledges because weve managed our economies effectively and managed our budget. Mr. Speaker, i do thank the Prime Minister. He came along yesterday at this press conference and made what sounded like a very grand promise to spend whatever it takes to recover from this and make sure we have a resilient country for the future. And the simple point im making is that there are real doubts whether it comes to making members of the Environment Agency who deal with flooding redundant and lack of investment for the committee on Climate Change, the expert body charged with this defense is not happening and he said it needs to reconsider those things. I would urge the Prime Minister in the coming days, the government needs to speak with one voice on this issue. The response needs to be speedier than it has been in the past and everyone affected needs to feel theyre getting the help they need. If the government does this, they will have our full support. What i said last night is what i said today, when it comes to this relief effort, money will be no object. I dont want people to worry about penny pinching as they see the vital work thats needed to help them with their houses, to help them deal with the floods. That is what this company is doing. Were deploying the military when we have been asked for the military. Deploying extra pumps when we were asked for pumps. Raising the compensation to local government to 100 because thats what local community should have. Im only sorry that he seems to divide the house when we should be coming together for the nation thank you very much. Hank you, mr. Speaker. I would like to discuss our broken rail link. Would he commit our government to finding longterm solutions to Rail Solutions in the Far Southwest but would he join me today in sending a clear signal to the rest of the country despite our current problem, dev on season caldwell is currently open for business . That message needs to go out loud and clear. Businesses including tourist businesses in caldwell and devon want people to know that the peninsula are very much open for business. In terms of the specific question he asks, yes, we are finding 31 Million Pounds to fund 10 resilience projects in the southwest to improve resilience for flooding. This will work at himpingsly, white ball tunnel and a couple of other places. Clearly most important thing is that rail chg i saw for myself yesterday, the intense damage done to that track and huge destruction that was brought by the waves. That will take up to six weeks. I know network rail are working as hard as they can and i have said any help they need, they only need to ask. Question three, closed question, mr. Andy sofford. Good evening, mr. Speaker. Were the first government to name and shame employers who fail to pay minimum wage. The name of the First Company published in 2011. We revised the keep to make publication easier. Im not satisfied this is fast enough and identity of those Companies Found to be breaking the law will be made public very, very soon. Can i thank the Prime Minister for that response and say to him two employment agencies in my constituency have recently been found not paying minimum wage to their workers and had to pay penalty but government said they have to protect confidentiality. My constituency want to protect the wronged people. We will be publishing the names, something that never happened under the Party Opposite. We are taking action. When it comes to penalties for not paying the minimum wage, if we look at the penalties last year, over 700 employers receive penalties for failing to comply with minimum wage law and the value of those penalties was almost seven times higher than in the time year of the last labor government. So we hear a lot of talk about enforcing the minimum wage for the Party Opposite and you see a lot of action from the government right here. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Crime is down 10 and our excellent home secretary Police Report are allowing good less. Rs to do more with but will the Prime Minister immediately implement the reforms of the Police Federation so Police Culture can be further improved . We are working with the Police Federation on this issue. Police federation is clearly an organization in need of reform to be referred to head of the new Police Federation who i met with recognizes this and wants to act and i think we should support him in sorting out this organization to better represent its members. Kathy jamison. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Two weeks ago the chief secretary to the treasury moved to rule out any further tax cuts for millionaires. Last week he said that would be over his dead body. Can the Prime Minister help him out today by ruling out any rther tax cuts for the top level . Or should they be looking to opt their weight in i saw him this morning at cobra and looked alive and well so i dont think she has worries on that front. This is not our priority. Our priority is cut taxes for low and middle earners. Thats what we have done. When it comes to april this year, her constituents will be able to earn 10,000 pounds without paying any income tax at all. Thats equivalent to 10 increase in the minimum wage. It means their income tax bill would have gone down by twothirds under this government. Those are the tax cuts were interested in. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Can i think the Prime Minister deputy for that personal engagement on the sommerset levels. Can i ask the Prime Minister a question which i dont think the secretary of state communities and local government grasp osmond, which is this when the emergency, the crisis phase of this problem is over we have to have sustainable plans to protect people on the sommerset level. That will require a revenue stream which will come through local government and that means changing to the way that is administered. When we have those detailed plans, will the Prime Minister et with me and others from sommerset to assure we have a sustainable future. I would be happy to meet with and have therein about twice to see myself. The problem we have is the pumping capacity taking now 3 million tons, now 5 million tons of water off the sommerset levels but thaws theres 65 million tons of water or more, its going to take time. Once we need to do once that water level comes down is get dredging going and work out longterm program for making sure this manmade environment is properly looked after by man so it is sustainable for the future. Im very happy to meet with him and discuss that. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Conditions outside of drake fall, Emergency Service individuals have been amazing but people are angry. In the southwest, my region are angry because of excessive costs they have seen when we have the whole of the west country not overseen by the network. And money today is welcome but not enough. Can we commit in the medium term to support growth and but the n the region strategic transport network. Its not there at the moment