Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many flood defence asset inspections the Environment Agency carried out in each of the last five financial years; and what proportion of flood defence assets have been inspected at least once in the last three years.

The Environment Agency’s (EA) Flood and Coastal Risk Management (FCRM) assets play a critical role protecting communities from the impacts of flooding. The EA has an annual programme of around 110,000 asset inspections, which can increase in-year to 165,000. The EA’s asset register is updated daily, meaning the baseline is in flux, preventing a meaningful comparison of figures between years. The EA therefore reports the percentage of assets at or below target condition. During quarter 2 of the 2025/26 financial year, 92.9% of the EA’s assets were currently at or above target condition.