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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 October 2020 to Question 98265 and to the November 2020 spending review CP 330, whether he plans to ensure that the Environment Agency receives adequate funding to meet its long-term investment scenario of £1 billion per year.

The Environment Agency's Long-Term Investment Scenarios (LTIS) assess what could happen with regard to flood risk over the next 50 years in England, and recommend a long-term annual average investment need over that period for works that are cost-beneficial.

LTIS considers total investment from all sources and is not a recommendation for levels of Government spend alone. However, total investment in flood risk management is currently in line with the LTIS optimum investment levels, and will rise above this through the next 6 year flood defences delivery programme beginning in April 2021.

At the Budget earlier this year, the Government confirmed it will invest a record £5.2 billion over six years to build around 2,000 new flood defences and better protect 336,000 properties. In addition, up to £170 million will be spent to accelerate work on shovel-ready flood defence schemes that will begin construction by March 2022, along with a £200 million investment in an innovative flood and coastal resilience programme.