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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department will allocate to councils in England to carry out recommendations of flood investigation reports under section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 in (a) 2025/26, (b) 2026/27 and (c) 2027/28.

Under section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, lead local flood authorities must investigate flood incidents to the extent that they consider it necessary or appropriate, publish the results and notify relevant risk management authorities. These investigations help to improve knowledge and raise awareness of local flooding and inform local flood strategies and investment.

The Local Government Settlement provides funding for local authorities and the services they deliver. This includes the management of local flood risk and flood investigations.

Flood investigations could be used to identify and support new flood projects, which could secure funding from the government’s record £2.65 billion investment programme.

Defra has worked with lead local flood authorities to develop non-statutory guidance for carrying out flood investigations. The guidance was published in April 2025 and provides a best practice framework for producing clear and consistent reports. It can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigating-a-flood-guidance-for-lead-local-flood-authorities/investigating-a-flood-guidance-for-lead-local-flood-authorities.