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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made by her Department in evaluating the potential merits of a transition to a total expenditure classification for flood and coastal erosion risk management funding; and if she will place in the Library a copy of that evaluation.

Defra and the Environment Agency are assessing whether allowing the Environment Agency greater flexibility between its resources and capital budgets for flood management could have any benefits. We will take this assessment into account in any future discussion with HM Treasury on the allocation of Exchequer funding for flood management. The assessment of a potential total expenditure approach has not yet been completed.