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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2016 to Question 57996, for what reasons the Environment Agency has reduced its estimate of the proportion of partnership funding to be raised from private resources; and what assessment she has made of the effect of this change on her Department's capacity to raise the required level of partnership funding overall.

To reduce the risk of flooding to a further 300,000 homes as part of the flood and coastal erosion risk management investment programme 2015 to 2021, the Environment Agency expects currently that 15 per cent of the partnership funding contributions required will come from private sources. This is estimated currently to be around £100 million and does not represent a reduction in the proportion of funding expected to come from private sector sources. The Environment Agency continues to work in partnership with the private sector and expect that further contributions will be secured as the programme progresses.