Asked by: Lord Murphy of Torfaen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any extra funding has been allocated to the Welsh Government to deal with recent flooding in Wales.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales and others are determined to ensure that all of those affected by flooding are supported in the best way possible. Flood response in Wales is a devolved matter. It was announced in March Budget that the UK Government will fund assistance for flood relief. For 2020-21, the Welsh Government will receive an additional £17m in Barnett consequentials from additional spending on flood prevention in England. If the Welsh Government matches our spending per head on flood prevention then this would see over £300m spent in Wales by 2026-27.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional capital resources they plan to make available to the Governments of (1) Wales, (2) Scotland, and (3) Northern Ireland, to fund capital expenditure in the financial year 2020–21 on flood prevention projects.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Flood prevention is a devolved policy area. It is for the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive to determine how to allocate their funding across their devolved responsibilities, including to flood prevention.
In 2020-21, the devolved administrations have the following capital block grants: £ 5,014m for the Scottish Government, £2,181m for the Welsh Government, and £1,524m for the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Barnett formula is being applied in the normal way on any planned changes in UK government departmental budgets, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, including to any additional funding for flooding in England.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of dredging rivers on flood prevention.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) prioritises those activities which achieve the greatest benefit in terms of better protecting people and property from flooding. Dredging and clearing channels are important parts of the EA’s maintenance regime, when it improves the channel’s ability to carry increased river flows and manage flood risk.
In 2010, the EA carried out a comprehensive series of trials to review and update understanding of the benefits and effectiveness of dredging as one method for maintaining channel conveyance. The trials showed that dredging can reduce flood risk, but its effectiveness and value for money varies significantly depending on the location. Since then, further studies have been carried out, validating the results of this trial, including the Thames bathymetry review, which reached a similar conclusion. In many cases, rivers naturally return to their pre-dredged state very quickly, and therefore any flood risk benefits are so short lived that the work cannot be economically justified. The implications for downstream communities also need to be considered.
The Somerset Rivers Authority and internal drainage boards have trialled alternative methods for dredging. These included small-scale trials of both cutter suction and water injection dredging, and a full-scale 5km trial using water injection dredging on the River Parrett. The trials demonstrated some potential to reduce costs of dredging in tidal rivers.
In 2014, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management produced an independent report entitled ‘Floods and dredging, A reality check’. This explored the effectiveness of dredging and is available at:
https://www.ciwem.org/assets/pdf/Policy/Reports/Floods-and-Dredging-a-reality-check.pdf
The EA uses the results of such trials and studies to decide where and how dredging will be effective, on a case-by-case basis.
Typically over each of the past three years the EA has spent between £45 million and £55 million a year on channel maintenance of which between £5 million and £11 million is for dredging. Channel maintenance includes a range of activities to maintain conveyance such as dredging, weed cutting and removing blockages.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
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 is taking to prevent flooding in Yorkshire.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is working in collaboration with partners to develop and deliver an ambitious, long-term capital programme to reduce flood risk across Yorkshire.
Within the current six-year investment period from 2015/16 – 2020/21, a total of £650 million is being invested across Yorkshire. This programme will better protect 67,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion by the end of March 2021. In addition to conventionally engineered solutions, this programme includes a number of projects that utilise nature based solutions, providing carbon absorption and net gains alongside flood risk benefits. For example, there are three National Natural Flood Management (NFM) pilot projects in Calderdale, Leeds and Pickering.
Details of Government investment in flood defences after 2021 have not yet been announced. In addition to the above, up to £12.5 million is spent every year in Yorkshire maintaining existing flood defences. To help facilitate flood prevention short term and long term actions, the floods Minister Rebecca Pow MP is planning to meet South Yorkshire MPs in the near future in partnership with the EA and the Mayor of Sheffield City Region Combined Authority.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much money has been allocated to flood defences in Yorkshire and the Humber for each year until 2025.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is working in collaboration with partners to develop and deliver an ambitious, long-term capital programme to reduce flood risk across Yorkshire.
Within the current six-year investment period from 2015/16 – 2020/21, a total of £650 million is being invested across Yorkshire. This programme will better protect 67,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion by the end of March 2021. In addition to conventionally engineered solutions, this programme includes a number of projects that utilise nature based solutions, providing carbon absorption and net gains alongside flood risk benefits. For example, there are three National Natural Flood Management (NFM) pilot projects in Calderdale, Leeds and Pickering.
Details of Government investment in flood defences after 2021 have not yet been announced. In addition to the above, up to £12.5 million is spent every year in Yorkshire maintaining existing flood defences. To help facilitate flood prevention short term and long term actions, the floods Minister Rebecca Pow MP is planning to meet South Yorkshire MPs in the near future in partnership with the EA and the Mayor of Sheffield City Region Combined Authority.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding they plan to provide towards (1) the prevention of coastal erosion, and (2) new housing and infrastructure in inland areas as a result of any such erosion.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government is investing £2.6 billion between 2015 and 2021 to better protect the country from flooding. This will deliver over 1,000 flood defence schemes to better protect 300,000 homes by 2021.
Of this £2.6 billion, over £1.2 billion of the current Government funding programme will better protect 170,000 properties from coastal change.
The National Planning Policy Framework expects local authorities to make provision for development and infrastructure that needs to be relocated away from Coastal Change Management Areas. There are a range of Government funding mechanisms (for new homes and growth for example) that can be used proactively to support change in communities. Coastal Protection Authorities (usually District Councils) lead on coastal erosion risk management activities in their area.
We are looking at current funding arrangements and an assessment of funding needs beyond 2021. We will continue to work with the Environment Agency to consider future investment needs and the Government’s role in supporting the resilience of communities.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities in their (a) assessment and (b) future prevention of flooding issues in Bosworth constituency.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £2.6 billion to better protect the country from flooding between 2015 and 2021. This will deliver over 1,000 flood defence schemes, which will better protect 300,000 homes by 2021.
Of the £2.6 billion Defra funding, approximately £650 million will be allocated to local authorities for their defence improvement projects.
Local authorities have access to a range of information provided by the Environment Agency on flood risk from all sources. The Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government provides funding to local government to carry out functions including managing flood risk and coastal erosion, through the local government finance settlement.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what changes there have been in the Environment Agency flood prevention budget for rivers in each year since 2010.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency (EA) develops flood and coastal risk management schemes where the risk is highest, wherever it is across the country. It uses a consistent set of criteria to prioritise funding for schemes which ensures a fair distribution of funding based on agreed priorities, principles and needs. It does not allocate or collate information separately for rivers or the coast.
The table below shows the EA’s total capital Grant in Aid (GIA) spend on flood and coastal erosion risk management and total revenue maintenance spend in each year since 2010/11 for which data is available. Capital GIA spend includes the construction of new flood and coastal erosion schemes as well as capitalised salaries and other flood risk management activity such as mapping, modelling and flood warning. Revenue maintenance spend includes developing technology and direct maintenance work such as dredging, inspecting assets, and carrying out repairs. Included in the figures is funding to support repairs from significant flood events.
Financial Year | Total FCERM Capital Grant in Aid (£m) | Revenue Maintenance Allocations (£m) |
2010/11 | 476 | - * |
2011/12 | 323 | 156 |
2012/13 | 316 | 170 |
2013/14 | 363 | 147 |
2014/15 | 554 | 171 |
2015/16 | 432 | 171 |
2016/17 | 466 | 214 |
2017/18 | 449 | 202 |
Total | 3,379 | 1,231 |
*2010/11 revenue maintenance figure is unavailable
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the reduction has been in the end agency flood prevention budget for maintenance of existing defences since 2010.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency (EA) develops flood and coastal risk management schemes where the risk is highest, wherever it is across the country. It uses a consistent set of criteria to prioritise funding for schemes which ensures a fair distribution of funding based on agreed priorities, principles and needs. It does not allocate or collate information separately for rivers or the coast.
The table below shows the EA’s total capital Grant in Aid (GIA) spend on flood and coastal erosion risk management and total revenue maintenance spend in each year since 2010/11 for which data is available. Capital GIA spend includes the construction of new flood and coastal erosion schemes as well as capitalised salaries and other flood risk management activity such as mapping, modelling and flood warning. Revenue maintenance spend includes developing technology and direct maintenance work such as dredging, inspecting assets, and carrying out repairs. Included in the figures is funding to support repairs from significant flood events.
Financial Year | Total FCERM Capital Grant in Aid (£m) | Revenue Maintenance Allocations (£m) |
2010/11 | 476 | - * |
2011/12 | 323 | 156 |
2012/13 | 316 | 170 |
2013/14 | 363 | 147 |
2014/15 | 554 | 171 |
2015/16 | 432 | 171 |
2016/17 | 466 | 214 |
2017/18 | 449 | 202 |
Total | 3,379 | 1,231 |
*2010/11 revenue maintenance figure is unavailable
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the budget for the maintenance of existing defences in the end agency flood prevention budget has been in each year since 2010.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency (EA) develops flood and coastal risk management schemes where the risk is highest, wherever it is across the country. It uses a consistent set of criteria to prioritise funding for schemes which ensures a fair distribution of funding based on agreed priorities, principles and needs. It does not allocate or collate information separately for rivers or the coast.
The table below shows the EA’s total capital Grant in Aid (GIA) spend on flood and coastal erosion risk management and total revenue maintenance spend in each year since 2010/11 for which data is available. Capital GIA spend includes the construction of new flood and coastal erosion schemes as well as capitalised salaries and other flood risk management activity such as mapping, modelling and flood warning. Revenue maintenance spend includes developing technology and direct maintenance work such as dredging, inspecting assets, and carrying out repairs. Included in the figures is funding to support repairs from significant flood events.
Financial Year | Total FCERM Capital Grant in Aid (£m) | Revenue Maintenance Allocations (£m) |
2010/11 | 476 | - * |
2011/12 | 323 | 156 |
2012/13 | 316 | 170 |
2013/14 | 363 | 147 |
2014/15 | 554 | 171 |
2015/16 | 432 | 171 |
2016/17 | 466 | 214 |
2017/18 | 449 | 202 |
Total | 3,379 | 1,231 |
*2010/11 revenue maintenance figure is unavailable