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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the flooding in the Sefton Central constituency on 20 and 21 January 2021, if he will support previously submitted bids under the National Resilience Fund from the Environment Agency for full funding of flood defence schemes in Maghull; and what plans he has to announce a new flood recovery fund.

Starting in 2021, the Government will invest £5.2 billion in a six-year capital investment programme for flood defences, better protecting 336,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion. The capital programme is allocated in accordance with the Partnership Funding Policy. The Partnership Funding policy clarifies the level of investment communities can expect from Defra so it is clear what level of funding they need to source from other sources to allow projects to go ahead.

The Environment Agency will continue to manage flood risk in Maghull, providing flood warning and maintaining existing assets and will continue to work with the local authorities to find alternative options to reduce the multiple sources of flood risk in Maghull.

With localised flooding incidents local authorities are expected to have well established contingency arrangements in place and to be able to respond and support their local communities from within existing budgets. Following severe weather with significant impacts across multiple local authorities, the Government is able to deploy the Flood Recovery Framework. We will continue to monitor the situation and assess whether further support is needed in the event that flooding impacts increase.