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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate the Environment Agency has made of the annual funding required to maintain all flood defence assets at their target condition grade, and what the actual expenditure has been on a) routine maintenance and b) capital repair of existing flood defence assets in each of the last five financial 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.