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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Government has spent on (a) coastal protection and (b) river flood protection in each of the last 10 years.

Information on spend categorised separately between coastal protection and river flooding for each of the last 10 years is not available. Prior to 2015, spend was reported on combined flooding and coastal erosion risk management.

However, government spend on coastal protection and river flooding, in addition to surface water flooding, is available in each year from 2015/16 to 2020/21 and is summarised in the table below.

Between April 2015 and March 2021, the Government invested £2.6 billion in its first 6-year flood and coastal defence programme. This programme exceeded its target of better protecting 300,000 homes. In the current investment programme (2021-2027), the Government is investing a record £5.2 billion for flood and coastal erosion risk management. This is being invested in around 2,000 projects to better protect 336,000 properties. The Government’s 6-year investment programme is one of a number of sources of investment in flood and coastal defences in England. Other government funding benefits river and coastal flooding, as does local and business contributions.

* The Coastal protection category includes schemes that protect against sea flooding, tidal flooding and coastal erosion.