Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45646, when her Department plans to complete the assessment of local needs and value for money to inform decisions on how to allocate remaining funding from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The assessment of local needs is an ongoing process. The Environment Agency and other risk management authorities are responsible for maintaining up to date assessments of local flood risk. This information, together with an assessment of options to reduce risk in each area, provides an ongoing pipeline of potential works.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45646, how she will assess local needs and value for money to inform decisions on allocating the remaining funding from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Local needs are assessed according to the probability of flooding in the area and the damages that could occur as a result of a flood. Investment options are assessed through an appraisal of the benefits and the costs of potential ways of reducing that risk.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45646, on what basis she will make recommendations to HM Treasury on allocation of remaining funding from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Proposals to improve flood defences are made by Defra and its agencies on the basis of the economic benefits, which are assessed in terms of the potential flood damages avoided, the current level of risk and the number homes that would be better protected by the scheme.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
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 announcement on page 4 of her Department's publication entitled Central Government Funding for Flooding and Coastal Erosion, published in September 2016, that decisions on where to allocate the remaining funding set aside for flood defences have yet to be made, (a) which Department or agency will make those decisions and (b) when she expects those decisions to be made.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Decisions on allocating the remaining headroom from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures announced at Budget 2016 will be made on the basis of a rigorous assessment of local needs and value for money. HM Treasury, in consultation with other government departments including Defra and the Environment Agency, will make allocation decisions in due course.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of funding from the new measures announced in paragraph 1.205 of Budget 2016 she plans to allocate for flood defences on the River Medway and its tributaries.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Of the additional £700 million announced at the Budget to be spent on flood defences and resilience, £150m has been allocated to new schemes in Yorkshire and Cumbria. The £40m per year increase in floods maintenance will be spent nationwide according to need. The remaining funding will be allocated following the outcome of the National Flood Resilience Review in the summer.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the mean time was between application for payment and receipt of payment of the (a) Basic Farm Payment and (b) Single Farm Payment to individual farms in Kent in the financial year 2014-15.
Answered by George Eustice
We do not hold information on mean time taken between the application for payment and a receipt of payment for the Basic Payment Scheme and the Single Payment Scheme in England.
Like-for-like comparisons cannot be made as the scheme rules and consequent administrative checks are different.
As of 10 March 90.5% of farmers (1,661 of 1,835) in Kent had been paid their BPS claim.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the mean time taken was between application for payment and receipt of the (a) Basic Farm Payment and (b) Single Farm Payment to individual farms in the UK in the financial year 2014-15.
Answered by George Eustice
We do not hold information on mean time taken between the application for payment and a receipt of payment for the Basic Payment Scheme and the Single Payment Scheme in England.
Like-for-like comparisons cannot be made as the scheme rules and consequent administrative checks are different.
As of 10 March 90.5% of farmers (1,661 of 1,835) in Kent had been paid their BPS claim.