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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on allocating the £75 million additional funding for Internal Drainage Boards.

At the National Farmers Union Conference in February the Prime Minister and Defra Ministers announced a new £75million one-off grant for internal drainage boards (IDBs) in 2024/25. This is following the winter storms and flooding and will be used to better protect agricultural land and rural communities. It will contribute towards helping IDBs recover and repair assets damaged from the recent flooding and will contribute towards modernising IDB infrastructure to lower costs and increase resilience to climate change.

Defra officials are working closely with the Environment Agency and the Association of Drainage Authorities (membership body that represents the interests of IDBs) on the details of the fund and application processes. We aim to allocate grants from June.