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 Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Water Environment Improvement Fund - Catchment Partnership Action Fund (CPAF) 2020-2022.

The Catchment Partnerships Action Fund (CPAF) created in 2015 built upon the success of the Catchment Restoration Fund (CRF) and Catchment Partnership Fund (CPF). CPAF supported the maintenance of Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) catchment partnerships and provided a mechanism to fund measures led by civil society to address statutory objectives. The Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF) was established in 2016 to build on CPAF.

107 WEIF hosting payments were made to catchment partnerships in 2020/21. Results from 2020/21 WEIF reporting confirm that CaBA catchment partnerships represent an important mechanism for delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan goals:

• CaBA partnerships engaged over 17,000 new stakeholders
• Nearly 300 CaBA projects addressed pollution issues
• 60 projects led to 1,200 ha of habitat creation, 78 barriers to fish migration removed and over 755 km of invasive species cleared.
• Over 350 projects addressed flood risk, using natural flood management.
• 250 projects included a focus upon natural infrastructure, such as wetlands, in the urban environment.