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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the flood defences on the Somerset Levels.

The Somerset Levels and Moors is a man-made managed drainage system created over many centuries. The area has always been prone to flooding due to its low-lying nature, much of the land sitting below the highest tide levels, and having riverbanks raised above ground level.

Following one of the wettest winters on record, flood risk assets in the Somerset Levels and Moors have, once again, been significantly tested. The Environment Agency (EA) routinely inspects its flood risk assets and undertakes additional post-incident inspections. It reports that 91% of those assets, in this area of interest, are at or above their specified condition.

As with most winters, there are repairs required after high river levels and the associated overflow. The EA is delivering a programme of repairs to reinstate these damaged flood risk assets, bringing them back to target condition.