Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has allocated funding for flood defences in Northamptonshire.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In Northamptonshire, over the period 2010/11 to 2022/23 the Environment Agency has better protected 310 homes from flood risk via a capital investment of £14.7 million total spend, sourced from both Government Grant in Aid funding as well as partnership funding sources.
In Northamptonshire, over the period 2023/24 to 2029/30, the Environment Agency is forecasting to better protect 486 homes from flood risk via a capital investment of £18.4 million total spend. This represents the current consented Flood and Coastal Risk Management investment programme, which was approved in February 2024.
The Environment Agency is working with Risk Management Authorities and communities across Northamptonshire. It should be noted that the former Northamptonshire County Council was successful in securing funding for a number of county-wide schemes which are now being progressed by the Unitary Authorities. Relatively small allocations have been used to benefit multiple communities and pave the way for increased resilience. In terms of council-led projects, the current priorities are East Brook Culvert in Kettering for North Northants Council (£425,000 future allocation, £227,000 previous spend) and St Leonards Road in Northampton for West Northants Council (£285,000 future allocation). Notable Environment Agency projects include development of the Nene Water Management Strategy (£3.5 million over a three-year programme) to provide a clear direction for the most economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable way to manage the river and waters between Northampton and Peterborough. There is also investment of £949,268 in the ongoing maintenance of the Northampton Flood Defences.
Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to help reduce the risk of flooding in Northamptonshire.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For the current financial year 2024/25, the Environment Agency has an allocation of £1,293,000 for flood defence maintenance work in Northamptonshire. This includes items such as weed cutting, grass cutting, fish and eel pass maintenance, mechanical and electrical maintenance work to assets, electricity and general operational costs. The Environment Agency will prioritise its statutory duties and those works which provide the highest benefit for reducing flood risk.
In Northamptonshire, over the period 2023/24 to 2029/30, the Environment Agency is forecasting to better protect 486 homes from flood risk via a capital investment of £18.4 million total spend. This represents the current consented Flood and Coastal Risk Management investment programme, which was approved in February 2024. We will continue to work with the Risk Management Authorities and communities to develop and progress identified projects.
Following the flooding experienced during the winter of 2023/2024, we will continue to work with partner Risk Management Authorities and communities to identify any needs for additional flood risk management work – either capital or revenue. We are currently engaging with a variety of communities (directly and with other partners) that experienced flooding to assist them in understanding their flood risk and working to develop community resilience so that these communities are more prepared and can recover faster following future flooding.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to protect (a) rural and (b) coastal communities at risk of flooding; and what steps he plans to take.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This includes a record £5.2 billion capital investment programme as well as a £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, which will benefit rural and coastal communities.
Approximately 40% of schemes, and 45% of investment, from the £5.2 billion programme will better protect properties in rural communities, supported by interventions such as the £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance and the £25 million Natural Flood Management Fund. In April 2023, the Government announced the first 53 communities in England to benefit from the £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance. These communities have been allocated a total of £48 million, better protecting more than 2,300 households and businesses across the country. A second round of schemes benefitting from the Frequently Flooded Allowance will be announced in due course.
In addition, the Government recently announced £75 million of funding to Internal Drainage Boards to help better protect agricultural land and rural communities from flooding.
As part of Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, Ministers have allocated £36 million over six years to develop a ‘Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme’ to trial opportunities and innovative practical actions in a small number of coastal areas at significant risk of coastal erosion, to transition and adapt to a changing climate.
In addition, Defra has committed to review policy on shoreline management plans by 2026 to ensure they remain fit for the future, and are transparent, continuously reviewed and enable coastal protection authorities to make robust decisions when managing flood and coastal erosion risk for their areas.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made a recent estimate of the number of unoccupied dwellings in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department publishes live tables on dwelling stock, which includes vacant homes here: Live tables on dwelling stock (including vacants) - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab). This data is collated from Council Taxbase data, collected by local authorities.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support coastal communities with tourism industries in summer 2024.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the central role of our coastal communities in the tourism sector.
This is why on Heritage Day in March, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced that it will be launching a dedicated fund to support enhancements to our seaside heritage, to help protect and rejuvenate coastal assets which are in need of further support.
At the Autumn Statement 2023, the Government also announced an extension to the 75% business rate relief for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2024-25.
We have also supported coastal communities to level up through dedicated funding under the Coastal Communities Fund, while the Levelling Up Fund has provided around £1 billion to projects in coastal areas. Over £400 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is going to lead local authorities within or serving coastal areas.
Across this Spending Review period, the Government has allocated over £100m to the British Tourist Authority to support VisitBritain and VisitEngland with marketing activity that includes championing visiting Britain’s coastline.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Newcastle (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding, other than flood and coastal erosion risk management grant-in-aid, they make available to protect heritage assets and community spaces at risk from coastal erosion.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This includes the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme (FCIP). As part of FCIP, Ministers have allocated £36m over six years, to develop a ‘Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme’ to trial opportunities, and innovative practical actions, in a small number of coastal areas at significant risk of coastal erosion, to transition and adapt to a changing climate. The practical adaptation actions will likely include activities that support and facilitate the managed transition of property and facilities at risk of coast erosion providing an anticipatory approach in advance of coastal change.
The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), arm’s length body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, awarded a £500,000 grant to English Heritage's Hurst Castle Stabilisation Feasibility Project (see attached) in 2022 to survey damage from coastal erosion and develop a plan to protect the castle for the long term. Further details of accessing NHMF grants can be found on the National Heritage Memorial Fund website.
Guidance on managing the impacts of coastal erosion on heritage features can be found on Historic England's website, alongside details of available grants for heritage.
The Third National Adaptation Programme (see attached) details how the Government and its agencies plan to protect cultural heritage from a changing climate, including implications for our coastal heritage due to flooding and coastal erosion.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
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 improve flood defences in North West Leicestershire constituency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This investment includes a record £5.2 billion capital investment programme, a £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, £170 million for economic recovery from flooding and over £30 million of funding for flood incident management.
In the £5.2 billion capital investment programme, funding is consistently distributed across the country wherever the risk is greatest and the benefits are highest. The Environment Agency administer this funding to maintain flood and coastal risk management (FCRM) assets across NW Leicestershire and is responsible the management of flood risk from watercourses designated Main River. They complete routine maintenance on assets with support from partners/contractors and this programme includes regular vegetation management, blockage removal and conveyance work to keep watercourses clear.
Packington was impacted by flooding in September 2023 and the Environment Agency are working with Leicestershire County Council (LCC) to assess what improvements can be made locally, such as improved flood warnings, property flood resilience (PFR) and natural flood management (NFM) mitigation measures.
A further 63 properties in the constituency were affected by flooding during Storm Babet in October 2023, and 43 impacted by Storm Henk in January 2024. In the current national 6-year programme, more than £0.5 million of government investment is planned by the Environment Agency to support schemes led by LCC at Breedon on the Hill, Diseworth & Long Whatton. Again, a variety of PFR, NFM and other flood alleviation measures will be utilised, aiming to better protect more than 60 properties.
The Environment Agency has also improved local flood modelling information and used this to work with developers to reduce flood risk in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Newcastle (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they have made available to protect churchyards from coastal erosion where (1) the church is of historical significance, or (2) family members of those recently buried in the churchyard reside in the local community.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This investment includes a record £5.2 billion capital investment programme, as well as the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme (FCIP).
Schemes are valued and prioritised using the Government’s Partnership Funding policy, with the amount of funding a scheme can attract dependent on the damages it will avoid and the benefits it will deliver. The impact on heritage assets and churchyards are included as part of this calculation.
In areas where a heritage asset is assessed to be invaluable, only schemes protecting the asset can be shortlisted.
The Third National Adaptation Programme details how Government and its agencies plan to protect cultural heritage from a changing climate, including implications for our coastal heritage due to flooding and coastal erosion.
Guidance on managing the impacts of coastal erosion on heritage features can be found on Historic England's website, alongside details of available grants for heritage.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Newcastle (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how heritage significance is taken into account when calculating the value of (1) a coastal erosion protection project, and (2) a grant received through grant-in-aid funding for such a project.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This investment includes a record £5.2 billion capital investment programme, as well as the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme (FCIP).
Schemes are valued and prioritised using the Government’s Partnership Funding policy, with the amount of funding a scheme can attract dependent on the damages it will avoid and the benefits it will deliver. The impact on heritage assets and churchyards are included as part of this calculation.
In areas where a heritage asset is assessed to be invaluable, only schemes protecting the asset can be shortlisted.
The Third National Adaptation Programme details how Government and its agencies plan to protect cultural heritage from a changing climate, including implications for our coastal heritage due to flooding and coastal erosion.
Guidance on managing the impacts of coastal erosion on heritage features can be found on Historic England's website, alongside details of available grants for heritage.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the retention rate of teachers in coastal communities.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record, with over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. This represents an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
The department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. For language subjects, the department is offering bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £27,000 tax-free in French, German and Spanish. The department is also continuing to offer bursaries and scholarships to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. As of 2023, 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns are eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. This will support both recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Coastal communities are also well served by the department’s network of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs), which are school-led centres of excellence in professional development, delivering training and support to teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. The 87 TSHs cover all of England, with 31 hubs currently serving 146 coastal areas across England.
Regarding recruitment targets, simply looking at post-graduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) recruitment as an indicator of broader teacher recruitment is misleading as it is not the only route into teaching, nor does it represent the available number of teachers in the workforce. The PGITT target is calculated using the Teacher Workforce Model, which considers a broad range of factors including, but not limited to, projected pupil numbers, historical recruitment performance, teacher retention forecasts, economic factors, and recruitment from other non-ITT related routes such as returners and those teachers that are new to the state-funded schools sector.
Therefore, the PGITT target is not based on the total number of entrants schools’ need, but rather on the forecast residual need after accounting for other non-PGITT inflows, such as undergraduate ITT and returners. The department calculates targets on an annual basis, and if retention and entrants from other routes are higher than expected during the time that trainees are applying for and completing their course, this can offset the need to meet the PGITT targets in full.
The department will continue to monitor PGITT and other routes into teaching and have provided targeted support to ensure it recruits and retains sufficient numbers of teachers in all key subjects, including physics and languages.