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

To ask His Majesty's Government how capital spending on flood defences will be split between physical infrastructure and nature-based solutions.

Delivering on the Plan for Change, this Government is investing at least £10.5 billion until 2036 to construct new flood schemes and repair existing defences, protecting communities from the devastating impacts of climate change. Through the largest floods programme in history, this record investment will better protect nearly 900,000 properties.

Following a public consultation over the summer, the government published a Ministerial Statement on 14 October, announcing major changes to its flood and coastal erosion funding policy. We will invest at least £300 million in natural flood management over ten years – the highest figure to date for the floods programme. These changes will support projects that not only reduce flood risk but also deliver wider benefits to communities and nature.

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