In October 2002 an Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers, chaired by the Deputy First Minister, was set up to consider the arrangements for addressing flood risk. In February 2003 Cabinet agreed a Statement of Commitments and an action plan in the form of the National Flooding Framework (NFF) which aims to address the problems of flooding through four areas of action: Awareness, Assistance, Avoidance and Alleviation.
In September 2003 the National Technical Advisory Group on Flooding Issues (NTAG) was set up to provide technical advice to the Executive on preparing guidance for local authorities taking forward flood prevention schemes. In April 2005 the Flooding Issues Advisory Committee (FIAC) was set up to continue the work of NTAG and offer advice on taking forward the NFF .
Under section 2 of the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 the responsible authorities must co-operate with each other in a co-ordinated fashion and the work of FIAC is an important aspect of achieving this aim.