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 Q25 of the oral evidence given by the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency to the Committee of Public Accounts on 27 November 2023, HC 71, if he will list the 500 schemes that will no longer go forward in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management investment programme; and if he will publish details of the modelling system used to make that calculation.

The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This investment includes a record £5.2 billion capital investment programme, a £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, £170 million for economic recovery from flooding and over £30 million of funding for flood incident management. Since April 2021, over £2.3 billion has been invested in around 300 flood protection schemes, better protecting over 88,000 properties.

The capital investment programme is annually reviewed and updated to accommodate changes, including the introduction of new schemes or urgent works. This means the programme is dynamic and evolves over time. Projects are not typically cancelled but deferred until funding and resources allow them to progress.

Projects are prioritised for the upcoming annual budget according to the following factors:

• Projects to address urgent health and safety risk or is a statutory requirement
• Projects that are already in construction
• Remaining projects ranked by adjusted partnership funding score. This score is the quantified value of outcomes as measured by the Defra Partnership Funding Policy, divided by the costs of the project and expressed as a percentage.

The programme is reviewed and agreed by Regional Flood and Coastal Committees (RFCCs), who may make adjustments to reflect local priorities.

If a project is not successful in securing funding for the upcoming year, it is rolled over to the longlist for the next year.

Delivery is the Government’s key priority, and we are working with the Environment Agency to review the programme in the light of the impacts of inflation and the pandemic. More information will be available in due course.