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 he has made of the adequacy of flood defences.

The Government is working closely with the Environment Agency and relevant authorities to ensure flood defences impacted by recent flooding are repaired as quickly as possible; around 14,000 asset inspections have been conducted following the recent storms with action taken wherever asset performance was compromised.

This year and last, £200 million is being invested in maintaining flood risk assets, with the aim of achieving our current target of between 94-95% in target condition.

In the City of Chester, in the current Flood and Coastal Risk Management capital programme, £20,000 of Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid funding has been allocated for projects in the constituency, which will better protect properties from flooding. There is also a proposed project in the Stretford and Urmston constituency (Longford Brook Flood Alleviation Scheme).