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 potential flood risks to (a) Runcorn and Helsby constituency and (b) the North West.

Flood and coastal risk management investment takes place where the risk is highest, wherever it is across the country.

The Environment Agency (EA) publishes the National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA), an assessment of flood risk from rivers and the sea for all areas of England and Wales, produced using local data and expertise. It shows the probability of flooding from rivers and the sea, considering flood defences and the condition they are in. This information is presented in flood risk likelihood categories.

The northwest of England (the Environment Agency areas of Cumbria and Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire) benefited from £97 million of investment between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 from the current Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) programme, resulting in 3270 properties being better protected from the risk of flooding.