Officials from the department for environment, food and rural affairs met with representatives from the Association of British Insurers for the second time this week, as the parties addressed the recovery programme to follow this summer's floods.

Thousands of home insurance customers across the country were affected by unseasonably high levels of rainfall during the earlier and later stages of the summer - with many having to leave their homes due to flooding.

"It was a very useful meeting where the ABI said that out of a total of at least 130,000 claims, by the end of August one in five of household claims had been settled and ten per cent of business claims," floods recovery minister John Healey said, after the meeting.

"While awaiting updated figures they expect this now to have reached around 25 per cent of households and 15 per cent for businesses. They also reported virtually all motor claims have been settled.

"While I appreciate this will be of little comfort to those still living in temporary accommodation it does show real progress and I want to thank the industry for their efforts to date, and they made clear their commitment to maintain this momentum over the coming months."

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