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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to implement the recommendation in the report by the Environment Agency entitled, Long-term investment scenarios 2019, that flood and coastal erosion risk management in the UK will require an average annual investment of £1 billion until 2065.

The Government is investing a record £2.6 billion from 2015-2021 to better protect 300,000 homes in England from flooding, and £1bn to maintain existing defences. Since 2015 some 600 new schemes are already providing better protection to over 200,000 homes across the country. The level of funding for flood defences beyond 2021 will be decided as part of a future Budget settlement, and will be informed by a range of evidence and forecasts, including the Environment Agency’s Long Term Investment Scenarios report.