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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has (a) carried out a recent review of the allocation of Flood Defence Grant in Aid funding which will be available for flood risk schemes and (b) made an assessment of the effectiveness of that funding.

The Government announced in March 2020 the amount invested in flood and coastal erosion schemes would be doubled in England to £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027. The Government keeps under review how funding is allocated to maximise its effectiveness.

Grant in Aid is allocated through the Government’s Partnership Funding policy to create greater partnership working between authorities and communities. Defra undertook an independent evaluation of the policy in 2018 and found it enabled more schemes to be delivered.