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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on improving flood defences.

This Government is investing at least £10.5 billion until 2036 – the largest flood programme in history – a record investment that’s projected to better protect nearly 900,000 properties. We are already making a difference. We delivered 151 schemes in our first year in government and we redirected £108 million into urgent flood and coastal defence maintenance to halt the decline of flood asset condition following years of under-investment.

Following consultation in October, the government announced major changes to its flood and coastal erosion funding policy. The new funding policy will optimise funding between building new flood projects and maintaining existing defences and will ensure that deprived communities continue to receive vital investment. We will use government funding to unlock investment from public, private and charitable sources, making every £1 of Government investment go further.

The government also set up its Floods Resilience Taskforce, providing oversight of national and local flood resilience, and improve preparedness ahead of the autumn and winter flood season.