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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire of 11 August 2020 on flood pumps and the effects of flooding in West Lancashire.

I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member. Defra is currently dealing with high volumes of correspondence due to COVID-19. It has also been necessary to consult the Environment Agency to provide as accurate and helpful a response as possible, which has taken time. I understand the hon. Member has also separately written to the Environment Agency on some of the points raised in these letters and the Environment Agency has responded.

A reply to the hon. Member has been prepared and will be issued very shortly.