Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the policy papers entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 30 June 2025, and Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, what their Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be in each year of the Spending Review period; how much capital funding has been allocated to each of their Department’s programmes; and how much and what proportion of the capital DEL allocation remains unallocated in each year.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
SR25 CDEL Allocation | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | 2027/28 | 2028/29 | 2029/30 |
CDEL | £2,695mn | £2,760mn | £2,781mn | £2,776mn | £2740mn |
Defra’s current capital delegated expenditure limits are displayed above, as set out in the Budget 2025 document (Table C.2). Any future amendments to Defra’s capital budgets will be subject to business planning and set out at the relevant Parliamentary Estimate in the usual way. The Spending Review 2025 document contains more detail on areas that Defra’s capital budget will supporting including the National Biosecurity Centre, Floods programme and the Farming and Countryside Programme. Defra is not holding any unallocated provision within its CDEL budgets.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which spending programmes their Department devolves for administration to (a) local government in England and (b) other local spending bodies; and what the budget is of each such programme for each year for which budgets are agreed.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government has set itself a mission that, by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal, with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution, with a simplified, long-term funding settlement. At Spring Budget, the Government announced the trailblazer devolution deals with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), which included a commitment to introduce single funding settlements at the next Spending Review (SR) for these Combined Authorities. At Autumn Statement, the Government published a Memorandum of Understanding with GMCA and WMCA, setting out how the single settlements will work. The Government also announced an ambitious new ‘level 4’ of the devolution framework, including a single transport funding settlement for eligible institutions, and a ‘consolidated’ pot at the next multi-year SR covering two Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities investment themes – local growth and place, and housing and regeneration. Following successful delivery of the ‘consolidated’ pot, and learning from the trailblazers, Level 4 institutions will then become eligible to receive a single settlement from the subsequent multi-year SR.
Details of major funding programmes, including those administered by local government or other local bodies, are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will (a) list the spending programmes his Department devolves for administration to local government in England and other local spending bodies and (b) specify the value for each programme for every year for which budgets are agreed.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The programmes listed below are devolved to local authorities using grant funding:
Air Quality Grant Scheme to Local Authorities
Bathing Water Signage
Clean Bus Technology Fund
GAP Clean Air Hub
IFCA Grant - Hampshire Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Support
NO2 Plan Clean Air Fund
NO2 Plan Implementation Fund And Feasibility Studies Funding
Part 1 of Commons Act 2006
Support for Third Wave Local Authority Targeted Feasibility Studies
Supporting local authority Feasibility Studies for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide
Waste Infrastructure PFI Grant
Expenditure and other details of each programme are published centrally by the Cabinet Office under the Government grants information system.
The 2018/19 publication is shown here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-grants-register-2018-to-2019
The 2019/20 publication is shown here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/government-grants-statistics-2019-to-2020
Data for 2020/21 is not yet complete and is expected to be published in September 2022.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his timeframe is for (a) completing flood defence work on the river Tame in Hodge Hill constituency and (b) restoring play facilities located there.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency (EA) has been working hard to improve flood defences at Bromford and Castle Vale, which will see more than 1,500 homes better protected from the risk of flooding. The scheme is expected to be completed by winter 2022/23.
The EA hopes the embankment area which is of particular concern to residents and Birmingham City Council will open in winter 2021/22. This is pending Section 278 approval from Birmingham City Council required before the EA can complete flood embankment works.
The EA has committed more funding to complete the scheme and deal with the various challenges the project has faced. The contractor’s senior management has also provided commitments to improve delivery confidence. They are both fully committed to completing this scheme at the earliest opportunity.
While work has been happening, some areas have had to close for the safety of the workforce and community, such as the play area in Bromford. The EA ensured the Multi Use Games Area and Skatepark adjacent to the under 12’s play area re-opened at the start of the summer holidays and has provided safety barriers to enable the community to run pop-up play sessions for younger children towards the end of the holidays. Birmingham City Council is responsible for progressing and re-opening the play area and I cannot comment on its timescales.