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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Repair and Renew grant scheme.

We are working closely with local authorities, with support from the Environment Agency, to ensure the effective delivery and deliver the maximum benefit for the ‘Repair and Renew’ grant. We are aware of a number of collaborative applications that will have multiple beneficiaries. These demonstrate particularly effective use of the grant.

The scheme is still running. All local authorities must claim reimbursement for grant payments from Defra by 31 March 2015. After then we will be better placed to assess the effectiveness of the scheme.