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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are planning to take in order to prevent flooding in the future, in the light of recent experience.

We will be spending more than £3.2 billion over thecourse of this parliament on flood and erosion risk management (between 2010/11 to 2014/15). Going forward, we have also made an unprecedented long-term 6-year commitment to record levels of capital investment in improving defences right up to 2021. By the end of the decade, we will have provided a better level of protection to at least 465,000 households.

In response to the exceptional events of the winter, Defra has made an extra £270 million available to repair, restore and maintain critical defences. This new funding will help the Environment Agency ensure that the most important defences are returned to, and maintained at, target condition as soon as possible.

We are also working to enable action by landowners, communities and others to manage local flood risk, including through the River Maintenance Pilot scheme.