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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the Environment Agency has adequate powers to pre-emptively tackle flooding in areas of high risk.

The Environment Agency (EA) has a strategic overview of the management of all sources of flooding and coastal change in England and is the lead authority for managing flood risk from main rivers, estuaries and the sea.

The EA is delivering the Government’s flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) investment programme. A new three-year £4.2 billion FCERM investment programme started on 1 April 2026, allocating investment where flood and coastal risk is greatest, using the Government’s new funding policy.

The EA has published information on schemes that will receive funding for the first year of the programme, between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027.

The EA provides flood alerts, warnings and advice through its Check for flooding service, helping communities prepare for flooding. The new National Flood Forecasting and Warning Service, launched in June 2026, supports faster and more reliable operational responses to emerging flood risks.