Written Evidence Mar. 06 2024
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: GEX0010 - Government resilience: extreme weather The National Flood Forum Written Evidence
Written Evidence Mar. 06 2024
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: stated that “The Government should urgently put in place a fully funded national capability for flood
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has provided to farmers for the implementation of flood prevention solutions on their farms in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The six-year £5.2 billion floods investment programme is provided to Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) rather than providing funding directly to farmers. Although many RMAs work with farmers to reduce flood risk, we do not hold a central record for this information.
Current offers to support farmers include the Countryside Stewardship (Cs) scheme, which supports farmers to improve water quality and manage flood risk through a range of grants and advice from Catchment Sensitive Farming. Support from the CS scheme to manage flood risk includes grants to reward farmers to control runoff and make space for water. The yearly breakdown for the costs is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to take steps to incorporate climate change projections into the UK Government Resilience Framework, in the context of flood prevention and management.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s long-term flood and coastal erosion risk management Policy Statement, published in 2020, sets out our ambition to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk. It includes five ambitious policies and a number of actions which will accelerate progress to better protect and better prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion in the face of more frequent extreme weather as a result of climate change.
Flooding resilience in England is a priority for Defra as part of the ‘whole of society’ approach to resilience outlined in the UK Government Resilience Framework (UKGRF). In December 2023 the Government published an implementation update for the UKGRF outlining progress to date in delivering commitments in the Framework. For example, the Government is investing a record £5.2 billion in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Capital Programme. Since 2021, over £1.5 billion has so far been invested in flood defence projects across the England, with over 67,000 properties better protected. Climate change projections are built into the design of new flood defences to make sure they are fit for the future.
On the 5 April 2023, the Government also announced the first communities in England to benefit from the Government’s £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance. These communities have been allocated a total of £48 million, better protecting more than 2,300 households and businesses.
Defra and the Environment Agency also work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to share flood risk information and identify particularly vulnerable areas. We constantly review our policies in the light of the most up-to-date evidence. This includes UK Climate Projections and the Government’s five-yearly UK Climate Change Risk Assessment.
Mentions:
1: Kerr, Stephen (Con - Central Scotland) Grangemouth, which is integral to Scotland’s economy and to our plans for net zero.The other dimension is the flood - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Alex Burghart (Con - Brentwood and Ongar) For example, the Government are investing a record £5.2 billion in the flood and coastal erosion risk - Speech Link
2: Alex Burghart (Con - Brentwood and Ongar) of acute national risks to lead Government Departments, across risk identification, risk assessment, prevention - Speech Link
3: Heather Wheeler (Con - South Derbyshire) In particular, they are holding follow-up meetings to get more flood wardens across South Derbyshire. - Speech Link
4: Alex Burghart (Con - Brentwood and Ongar) On alerts, for instance, normal flood warnings were operated. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Fairlie, Jim (SNP - Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) year, we provided grants of up to £30,000 to farmers and land managers to help them to repair damaged flood - Speech Link
2: Fairlie, Jim (SNP - Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) We will discuss all those issues at the flood forum, as I have already mentioned.I say to Willie Rennie - Speech Link
3: Hamilton, Rachael (Con - Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) Scotland, they are just £230.If, as you say, minister, your Scottish National Party Government takes flood - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Boyack, Sarah (Lab - Lothian) prevention infrastructure. - Speech Link
2: Boyack, Sarah (Lab - Lothian) prevention infrastructure. - Speech Link
3: Baker, Claire (Lab - Mid Scotland and Fife) The review of existing and planned flood prevention schemes needs to be brought forward, and we need - Speech Link
4: Grahame, Christine (SNP - Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) They include, in my constituency, the Galashiels flood prevention scheme, which was completed in 2014 - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Oliver Dowden (Con - Hertsmere) the UK’s world-leading vaccine programme, which set us free again and demonstrated the importance of prevention - Speech Link
2: Sarah Champion (Lab - Rotherham) What are the Government doing to prevent that increase in flood risk and to build defences that will - Speech Link
3: Oliver Dowden (Con - Hertsmere) On resilience more widely, we have put £150 million into the flood and coastal resilience innovation - Speech Link
4: Richard Graham (Con - Gloucester) Although prevention is of course vital, resilience is also about how we respond to crises and fight back - Speech Link
Asked by: Lumsden, Douglas (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has distributed in flood recovery grants to (a) homes and (b) businesses affected by Storm Babet.
Answered by McAllan, Màiri - Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition
The Scottish Government has funded Angus, Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross Councils to distribute £516,000 in community recovery grants and £240,000 in business recovery grants to eligible homes and businesses affected by Storm Babet, totalling £756,000.
In addition, £100,000 was provided to Angus Council through the Homelessness Prevention Fund to help families who had been flooded to rebuild their lives, and £1.8m was pledged to support farmers to help repair damaged floodbanks. Ministers also activated the Bellwin Scheme to help affected local authorities with revenue and uninsurable expenditure resulting from the storm, and extended the eligibility period of claims from two to four months.