Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 make an assessment of the potential (a) cultural and (b) historic merits of protecting areas from flooding and coastal erosion in a future review of the flooding formula.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will launch a consultation in the coming months which will include a review of the existing flood funding formula to ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection. Feedback will be sought on the advantages and disadvantages of potential reforms to the flood funding formula.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 open the consultation on the flooding funding formula; and how long the consultation will last.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will launch a consultation in the coming months which will include a review of the existing flood funding formula to ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection. Feedback will be sought on the advantages and disadvantages of potential reforms to the flood funding formula.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in levels of costs for statutory external audit fees levied on National Park authorities on those authorities; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) levels of those fees and (b) breadth of those statutory requirements.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra acknowledges that rising costs, including to fees required to fulfil statutory obligations, increase the funding pressures on National Park authorities.
Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited (PSAA) independently sets fees for eligible bodies defined in the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, including National Park authorities. PSAA is responsible for setting the scales of fees for the audit of accounts of authorities who have opted into its services. PSAA consults on and publishes its fee scales - 99% of eligible local bodies opted into its national scheme for the appointing period 2023/24 to 2027/28, including all National Park authorities in England.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government launched a strategy in December to overhaul the local audit system in England. The strategy commits to a series of measures to fix the broken system and consults on several specific proposals.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 the adequacy of (a) progress towards risk-reflective pricing for insurance in areas of high flood risk and (b) market readiness for the scheduled exit of Flood Re in 2039.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Flood Re have a statutory purpose to manage the transition to risk-reflective pricing of flood insurance for household premises between 2016 and 2039. Flood Re published their most recent Transition Plan in July 2023, outlining its progress and action on moving to affordable risk-reflective pricing by 2039. Flood Re’s next Transition plan (Transition Plan 4) will be published in summer 2028.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of swallowtail butterfly numbers in (a) North Norfolk constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The swallowtail is a nationally rare butterfly and is restricted as a breeding species to the Norfolk Broads. The species was categorised as Vulnerable in the 2022 International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Regional Red List for Great Britian, moving from the near threatened category in 2010. This was due to a substantial population reduction in England of more than 30% in the previous 10 years. We have no separate trend data for the North Norfolk constituency.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 protect the coast in North Norfolk constituency from erosion.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Over £200 million has been invested in Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) projects in Norfolk since 2010, protecting 15,500 properties. Two major coast protection schemes are currently underway in North Norfolk, at Mundesley and Cromer, funded through Government FCERM Grant in Aid. These two schemes, with a forecast total cost of £30 million, will better protect 600 homes from coastal erosion and climate change over this century.
Funding for these schemes have come about through a close working partnership between North Norfolk District Council and the local Environment Agency team who work together to find affordable and environmentally sound solutions to the challenges facing the coast. They also work together on the Anglian Coastal Monitoring Programme which began in 1990 and is one of the longest running regional scale Government funded coastal monitoring programmes in the world. The output of this programme is essential for both the technical design of engineering solutions and providing robust, evidence-based policies for sustainable coastal management into the long term.
North Norfolk is also benefitting from approximately £15 million funding through the Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme, delivered locally through the Coastwise project, trialling innovative approaches to adapt to the impacts of climate change and coastal erosion. The Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme aims to speed up strategic and action planning on how coastal local authorities, partners and communities will address the long-term plan of moving communities, businesses and resources away from the coast at risk. The programme is supporting the trial of early on-the-ground actions for medium and long-term plans. This will allow coastal areas at serious risk to address the challenges a changing climate creates.