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, what recent assessment he has made of effectiveness of the Government's Resilience Framework in help to reduce flooding in high-risk areas.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In December 2023 the Government published an implementation update for the UK Government Resilience Framework, outlining the implementation progress to date in delivering commitments in the Framework. This included the Government investing £5.2 billion in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Capital Programme running from 2021 to 2027 and an additional £200 million being invested in the Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme running from 2021 to 2027. As part of this, from September 2023, a further three communities in England have been included in the Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme. 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.
Asked by: Brandon Lewis (Conservative - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will undertake a review of the adequacy of the level of financial support it makes available to people who have lost properties due to coastal erosion.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Coastal erosion is a longstanding process which is the natural way in which coasts evolve over time. There is no right to compensation for damage from flooding or coastal erosion since these are natural processes. The Coastal Erosion Assistance Grant (CEAG) provides £6,000 per property to assist local authorities with the demolition and removal costs associated with homes at imminent risk from coastal erosion. The Environment Agency administer the CEAG on behalf of Defra.
Our £5.2 billion programme includes £1.3bn in defences for the coast between April 2021 and March 2027. This is subject to ongoing discussions between Ministers and the EA regarding the revised programme.
It is not always sustainable or affordable to defend every part of our coastline in the face of a changing climate which is enhancing the coastal erosion process. This is why we have allocated £36m over 6 years, for the ‘Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme’ (CTAP) to support communities in coastal areas at significant risk of coastal erosion. This will explore approaches to enabling transition and adaptation in our changing climate. North Norfolk is part of this programme as they have proportionally the highest number of properties at risk from coastal erosion in England. Learning from this programme will help inform and prepare other coastal communities and risk management authorities for flooding and coastal change in the future.
As part of CTAP, local areas will be exploring the availability and role of financial products or services that can help people or businesses in communities most at risk of coastal erosion.
Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to support the Environment Agency to produce a flood prevention business plan for Bassetlaw constituency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Flood and Water Management Act (2010) Nottinghamshire County Council (as the designated Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) for Bassetlaw District Council are required to produce a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS).
This includes a comprehensive Action Plan detailing the activities that will be undertaken to manage flood risk in the county. Following events such as Storm Babet and Henk, the LLFA is required to undertake investigations (referred to as Flood and Water Management Act (2010) Section 19 Investigations) into the causes and consequences of flooding and these should then be used to update the Nottinghamshire LFRMS with agreed actions which need to be undertaken to effectively manage the flood risk.
The Environment Agency is working closely with the County Council and other Risk Management Authority’s to ensure that the evidence of flooding which we have recently experienced is fully reflected in the Plan and the action Plan is revised accordingly. This, coupled with the National 6-Year Capital Programme of works approved by the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and the Flood Response Planning of the Local Resilience Forum is the framework we use to deliver more resilient communities, as is required by the National Flood Risk Management Strategy.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to increase funding for flood resilience.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over 6 years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. Since April 2021, over £1.5 billion has been invested in flood defence projects across the country and over 67,000 properties have been better protected from flooding. On 26 July 2022, the Government announced the creation of a new £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance from within the £5.2 billion programme, to support communities that have experienced repeated flooding, reducing the risk of flooding in the future. An additional investment of £170 million of economic recovery funding was provided for 23 flood defence schemes across the country that were shovel ready.
The Government is investing a further £200 million is in the Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme to help over 25 local areas to take forward wider innovative actions to improve their resilience to flooding and coastal erosion.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of traditional short-term lets on the local economies of (a) rural and (b) coastal communities.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Traditional short-term lets have long provided visitor accommodation to rural and coastal locations, supporting jobs and the local economy. However, it has been highlighted that there is no single, definitive source of data on short-term lets in England with which to make a more detailed assessment, and the Government has committed to introducing a registration scheme for short-term lets in order to better understand the size of the market.
In April 2023, the Government published a consultation on the design of a short-term lets registration scheme. The consultation closed on 7 June 2023, and the Government will respond in due course.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will work with the relevant Government departments on the design of the registration scheme and to ensure that different measures which apply to short-term lets are proportionate, complementary and easy to understand.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help flood affected areas in (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
a) Bournemouth East is at risk of flooding from the sea, Christchurch Harbour, the River Stour and Surface Water. The Environment Agency and Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch Council are working in partnership to ensure plans are in place to reduce the flood and coastal erosion risk both now and into the future taking account of climate change. Work is underway on the Lower Stour and Christchurch Bay Flood Risk Management Strategies. These strategies will inform future investment needed to both reduce flood risk and adapt to climate change. The Environment Agency and Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council are capturing information from recent flood events and will build this into their Strategies and future investment plans. Both organisations are also engaging with affected communities.
As part of the Government’s 6- year £5.2 billion (2021/22-2026/27) capital investment programme £22.7m of Flood Defence Grant in Aid (FDGiA) is being invested in Bournemouth East. This will better protect 3003 properties from flooding or coastal erosion. On the coast we are investing in the Bournemouth Beach Management Programme to reduce the risk of coastal erosion. Work is underway and includes groyne replacement, beach recharge, and redevelopment of the long groyne at Hengistbury Head.
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council are developing surface water management plans that will identify high risk locations and measures necessary to reduce the risk of surface water flooding, these plans will take account of recent flooding.
b) Across the South West the Environment Agency and Local Authorities are similarly working with local communities to help them recover from flooding over the last few months.
The Flood and Coastal Risk Management capital programme (2021/22 – 2026/27) has planned FDGIA capital investment of £696m for the South West ONS region*. This investment is forecast to better protect around 21,300 properties from flooding and coastal erosion.
*Please note that allocations are reviewed each year and are subject to change, and numbers for properties better protected are forecasts which are also subject to change. Totals may not include projects that are cross-boundary across multiple ONS regions.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many flood risk schemes have been allocated funding via the Flood Defence Grant in Aid; and in which locations funded schemes have been.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is acting to drive down flood risk from every angle.
The Government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over six years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. Since 2021, £1.5 billion has so far been invested in flood defence projects across the country. The Investment Plan for the six-year floods programme, published in 2021, provided indicative information about regional allocation of investment. The range of projects in the programme is refreshed annually to take account of changes in local projects, and now also the impacts of inflation and COVID-19 on the programme.
Our previous floods investment programme ran from 2015 to 2021. The number of projects and homes better protected by region is provided in the table below.
Office of National Statistics Region | April 2015 to March 2021 number of projects that were invested in and delivered homes better protected | April 2015 to March 2021 homes better protected |
East Midlands | 70 | 38,200 |
East of England | 78 | 11,500 |
London | 30 | 20,100 |
North East | 84 | 6,500 |
North West | 116 | 37,600 |
South East | 129 | 80,600 |
South West | 133 | 28,500 |
West Midlands | 99 | 7,500 |
Yorkshire | 115 | 83,800 |
Total | 854 | 314,300 |
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate the potential financial impact of flooding in communities across the UK.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The joint Government and insurance industry Flood Re scheme aims to promote affordability and availability of insurance for UK households at high flood risk. In 2022/23, Flood Re provided cover for over 265,000 household policies. More than 500,000 properties have benefitted since the scheme’s launch.
In April 2022 the Government made regulations to allow Flood Re to pay claims from insurers which include an amount for resilient repair (Build Back Better) up to a value of £10,000 over and above the cost for like-for-like reinstatement. Build Back Better will further help eligible flooded households become more resilient to flooding, enable homeowners to return more quickly after any future flooding, and will help reduce the cost of damages after a flood.
In October, the Government also announced a significant package of support that will be available to eligible areas in England that have experienced exceptional localised flooding as a result of Storm Babet. Areas reporting over 50 flooded properties at Lead Local Flood Authority will be eligible. The Flood Recovery Framework includes:
The Government is also making payments of up to £5,000 available to help eligible flooded householders and businesses to install Property Flood Resilience measures to make their properties more resilient to future flooding (Defra).
This is in addition to the Government’s commitment to double the funding from £2.6 billion (for 2015-21) to £5.2 billion (over a period of 6 years from 2021) to reduce the harm and damage caused by flooding and coastal erosion, protecting people’s lives and minimising the disruption to their livelihoods.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prepare for potential flooding in homes and business across the UK.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over 6 years in around 2,000 flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. This has already resulted in more than 35,000 properties being better protected since April 2021. This investment will also avoid wider economic damages, better protect transport infrastructure, and create or improve natural habitats.
The Environment Agency (EA) launched its annual Flood Action Campaign on 20 November 2023 to encourage people to prepare for flooding. This promotes the steps that people can take to protect themselves, their family and homes. In July 2022, the Government announced a £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance to support communities that have experienced repeated flooding.
The Environment Agency is prepared to act wherever and whenever it is needed this winter and has 5,000 trained staff across the country ready to respond to flooding.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to provide additional support to local authorities in areas that experience frequent flooding.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment between 2021 and 2027 in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England.
Communities suffering frequent flooding can benefit from Government’s £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance, ring-fenced from the £5.2 billion investment. This aims to boost schemes in areas that are impacted repeatedly from flooding. On 5 April 2023, Government announced the first 53 communities to benefit from the Allowance.