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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government's Flood Resilience Taskforce has made on improving flood resilience in high-risk areas.

The Floods Resilience Taskforce is a new approach to preparing for flooding which brings together representatives from national, regional and local government, the devolved Governments emergency services, businesses and environmental interest groups.

The first meeting on 5 September provided all organisations with a shared understanding of the flood risk for the autumn and winter, to inform preparatory action. The second taskforce meeting on 5 February looked at lessons from the winter flooding and informed the forthcoming consultation on long-term investment reform.

The Taskforce is developing Action Groups on flood warnings, flood recovery and insurance services to drive work on these issues.

This Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record, as years of underinvestment and damaging storms left just 92% of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high-consequence assets at required condition, meaning approximately 60,000 properties are at a higher risk.

As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, a record £2.65 billion will be invested over two years in building, maintaining and repairing flood defences, better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026. Around 1,000 projects will receive funding in 24/25 and 25/26.