Mr. Michael Kemp:

What we have been suggesting is that there should be some wider consultation at an earlier stage in the planning of the design so it is agreed that what is proposed will meet the standard. That makes it easier after the event to be able to review the situation regarding the availability of cover.

There was a suggestion that we were criticising the OPW for being inefficient in terms of the time taken to carry out some works. That is not what we meant. We were saying that the process the OPW is caught in, as much as anybody else, is such that it tends to slow things down to an unacceptable degree. There should be an examination of that to try to streamline the process. The OPW, like everybody else, is constrained by the process in getting projects to fruition.

With regard to problem cases, our estimate of 98% plus penetration is based on an estimate of the level of cover provided to households throughout the country. It is not based on a sampling of the complaints we get. The point we made is that the complaints seemed to be relatively low in comparison to the amount of publicity the problem has had. However, we are quite happy to look into complaints and we are usually very effective at getting results where there is a manifest injustice in the way a particular case has been treated. There will be occasions when we will stand over the fact that we believe there is a logic to what is done in underwriting decisions in general, but there are cases where mistakes are made and in many cases we get underwriters to change their opinion and to reinstate cover or to change the terms clashing with the cover in those cases. In addition, at area level, where works have been carried out, there have been changes in the attitudes of underwriters to insuring risks in those areas.

The point about the higher standard of fit-out was not intended to be a criticism. It was just an explanation. It is one of the reasons that we have seen the cost of weather events increasing. There is a higher sum at risk. Certainly, it is charged for in premiums-----