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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what powers her Department has to hold local authorities accountable for their performance in maintaining flood defences.

The Hon Member is right to raise this important issue and I know from visiting her constituency the impact of flooding on her local community.

It is essential that local authorities maintain their flood defences as part of their statutory flood risk management duties, even if that council does not believe in climate change.