Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including projects on protecting farmland from flooding in the next allocation round of Levelling Up funding.

The Levelling Up Fund will support urban and rural communities to deliver benefits across the United Kingdom. It is for bidding authorities to put forward the bids that they feel will best support their Levelling Up ambitions across the themes of Regeneration, Culture and Transport.

Local authorities can also use their UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation for this type of intervention. This includes funding for new, or improvements to existing, community and neighbourhood infrastructure projects including those that increase communities' resilience to natural hazards, such as flooding. This could cover capital spend and running costs.