Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional resources from the public purse have been allocated to Fire and Rescue Services to respond to the effects of recent storms and flooding in 2020.

Overall fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.3 billion in 2019/20. Single purpose fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of 2.3% in cash terms in 2019/20 and an overall increase of 0.3% from 2015/16 to 2019/20, in addition to Home Office funding for High-Volume Pumps and training for their use as part of the New Dimensions Grant to Fire and Rescue Authorities which, together with other National Resilience capabilities, totals approximately £18m.

Fire and Rescue Authorities are funded to respond to incidents, including flooding, demonstrated by the fantastic response of Fire and Rescue Services to the 2020 storms and a range of incidents in 2019 including the Wainfleet and Yorkshire floods and the Toddbrook Reservoir incident.

The Home Office provides a further £9m funding to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, the Lead Authority for National Resilience, in support of the maintenance and assurance of National Resilience Capabilities, including High Volume Pumps. Local Authorities responding to flooding in England also can make an application under the Bellwin Scheme for eligible additional costs.