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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to protect communities against the risk of flooding.

This Government is acting to drive down flood risk from every angle. We are investing a record £5.2 billion in around 2,000 new defence schemes. This investment will better protect 336,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion. We also announced £170 million to accelerate the building of 22 flood schemes across the country - on top of our record £5.2 billion investment in flood and coastal defences.

In July 2020, we published a long-term Policy Statement which sets out our ambition to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk. The Policy Statement includes five policies and over 40 supporting actions which will accelerate progress to better protect and prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion. A year on from its publication, we published an update on the significant progress that has been made to deliver these commitments and the further steps that we are taking to strengthen action. These include:

• The Government published its Investment Plan which sets out what will be achieved from the record investment of £5.2 billion, how the portfolio of projects will be developed to improve the country's flood and coastal defences, and how the investment will be managed.

• The Government committed to allow insurers to help flooded households to make their homes more resilient to future flooding using products such as air brick covers, flood doors and flood resistant plasterboard - and benefit from discounted insurance premiums if they have resilience measures installed.

• The Government published a review of policy for development in areas at flood risk. The review has found that there are robust measures in place to protect people and property from flooding and has identified opportunities to further strengthen the system. The Government is taking forward new actions in response to these findings.

• The Government published a report setting out the progress that has been achieved against the Surface Water Management Action Plan and a response to the independent review into the arrangements for determining responsibility for surface water and drainage assets.

• In addition, the Government published the terms of reference for a new advisory group which will be established by the end of 2021 and will bring together key bodies to inform the government's future policy proposals for reform to local flood risk management planning by 2026.

Taken together, these actions will help to create a thriving and resilient nation which is on the right footing to better manage and adapt to the risks of flooding and coastal erosion now, and in the future, reducing the risk of harm to people, businesses and communities.