To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people she estimates will not have been able to return to their homes before Christmas Day 2007 as a result of damage from this year’s floods. (174152)

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families remain unable to return to their homes following the 2007 summer flood damage. (177711)

I wrote to the hon. Member on 19 December 2007. Since then further data have been provided by local authorities and as of early January around 9,150 households of the households originally affected remain displaced.

I met with representatives of flood affect councils and the insurance industry on 10 December and agreed a package of concerted actions to help people still badly affected by the floods. Getting people back into their homes as quickly as possible is a Government priority and I announced on the 20 December that £1 million of extra funding will be made available to the small number of councils with a large number of households not yet back in their own homes after the floods:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/619896.