UK Inquiry Tracker

Strategic flood risk management: progress review inquiry

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 19 Jan 2016 Closed: 12 May 2016 Parliament page

Some 5.2 million properties in England are at risk of flooding, and the winter floods of 2013–14 reignited public debate on how government addresses flood risk. In England, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has national policy responsibility for flood risk management. The Environment Agency has a … Read more Some 5.2 million properties in England are at risk of flooding, and the winter floods of 2013–14 reignited public debate on how government addresses flood risk. In England, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has national policy responsibility for flood risk management. The Environment Agency has a strategic overview role and is also responsible for managing the risk of flooding from main rivers and seas. In the face of increasing flood risk in England and pressure on defences, the Environment Agency has improved cost effectiveness and how it prioritises its flood risk spending. However, Defra and the Agency have limited resources and current spending may be insufficient to meet many of the maintenance needs the Agency has identified for its flood defences. Funding decreased in real terms At the time, government made an extra £270 million available following the winter storms in 2013. This included an additional £35 million for asset maintenance in both 2014–15 and 2015–16. In cash terms, this restored maintenance funding to 2010–11 levels. However, in real terms, this represented a decrease of 6 per cent between 2010–11 and 2014–15. Excluding the one-off funding of £200 million provided following the winter floods, total funding decreased in real terms by 10 per cent in the same period. In light of this, this inquiry conducted by the Public Accounts Committee in 2014 considered the challenges to sustaining the current standard of flood protection, the effectiveness of the government’s flood risk assessment and investment appraisal, and the longer-term value for money of the maintenance programme. The report published by the Committee in early 2015 contained a number of recommendations around funding and realistic flood defence management. In light of recent developments, the Public Accounts Committee, in its session on Monday 25 January 2016, intends to revisit the topic to monitor how the Department and the Environment Agency have taken forward the recommendations of the PAC report. Show less

1 Oral session

1 Event

Activity timeline 2 events

25 Jan
2016

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

25 Jan
2016

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 15, Palace of Westminster

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

25 Jan 2016

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