UK Inquiry Tracker

Managing flood risks

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 17 Dec 2020 Closed: 17 May 2021 Parliament page

Flooding and coastal erosion put lives, livelihoods and people’s well-being at risk. The Environment Agency estimates that 5.2 million homes and businesses in England are at risk of flooding and that around 700 properties are vulnerable to coastal erosion over the next 20 years. In addition, more than two thirds … Read more Flooding and coastal erosion put lives, livelihoods and people’s well-being at risk. The Environment Agency estimates that 5.2 million homes and businesses in England are at risk of flooding and that around 700 properties are vulnerable to coastal erosion over the next 20 years. In addition, more than two thirds of properties in England are served by infrastructure sites and networks that are at risk from flooding. The Met Office’s UK climate projections show more extreme weather events and sea level rises resulting from climate change. This, when combined with increased housing development, will heighten flooding and coastal erosion risks. The government set the Environment Agency (EA) a target of better protecting 300,000 homes from flooding between 2015 and 2021, through an investment of £2.6 billion, and it is currently on track to meet this target within its budget. Since 2015, over 700 new flood defence schemes have been introduced, providing better protection for over 242,000 homes. On average, EA has spent £2,750 for each property with an annual likelihood of flooding of at least 1%. By providing better protection for 242,000 homes, EA’s investment programme has delivered valuable benefits for people, with flood risk being substantially lower for many thousands of homes in England. However, the headline figure of 242,000 homes better protected also does not take account of properties that have become less well protected due to factors such as housing development, climate change and the condition of flood defence assets. Following the 2019-20 autumn and winter floods, the number of properties at risk as a result of the condition of EA flood defences and other infrastructure assets increased by 171% from 70,000 in 2018-19, to 189,000 in 2019-20. The cost of repairing and maintaining flood defences could increase by between 20% and 70% a year as a result of climate change. The government’s approach is designed to ensure deprived areas do not miss out on investment, but the proportion of funding for flood defence going to the 20% most deprived areas has reduced substantially since 2014. The government requires many flood schemes to be part-funded by communities, local authorities or businesses in the private sector. The system includes provisions for deprived communities who may have difficulty raising this type of investment. However, very few of the homes better protected in 2019 were in deprived areas; the proportion rose from 4% in 2011, to 29% in 2014, but then declined to 8% in 2019. Defra believes this decline is because most of the possible schemes in deprived areas have been completed, but has not carried out any analysis to support this explanation. The Committee will question senior officials at Defra and the Environment Agency. If you have evidence on government’s management of protecting homes from flood risk, please submit it here by 6pm on Thursday the January 2021 Show less

7 Recommendations

23 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

4 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 7 events

31 Aug
2021

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-fifth report from Session 2019-21

6 Jul
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, re Forty-fifth Report of S…

16 Apr
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, re Forty-fifth Report of S…

26 Feb
2021

Report published

Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk

1 Feb
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive, Environment Agency, re recent research into flood risk for deprived areas, dated 27 J…

1 Feb
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, DEFRA, re regarding parish councils and their role in supporting flood and coa…

14 Jan
2021

Oral evidence

Managing flood risks

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

14 Jan 2021

View on parliament.uk

Managing flood risks

Catherine Wright · Environment Agency Sally Randall · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Sir James Bevan · Environment Agency Tamara Finkelstein · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk	HC 931	26 Feb 2021	30	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

7 results

2 Recommendation Deferred

Forty-Fifth Report - Managing floo…

Scarce local authority resources and low levels of private sector investment are barriers to the...

Scarce local authority resources and low levels of private sector investment are barriers to the effective management of flood risks, especially given the impact of Covid-19. Lead local flood authorities (unitary authorities or county councils) are responsible for managing local … Read more

Government Response

The government agreed with the recommendation to identify areas of shortfall in flood risk funding but deferred the implementation, stating it will consider a review of local government funding as part of the Spending Review 2021, missing the July 2021 reporting deadline.

HM Treasury

View details

4 Recommendation Deferred

Forty-Fifth Report - Managing floo…

Short-term funding cycles are impacting on the Agency’s ability to manage flood risks effectively.

Short-term funding cycles are impacting on the Agency’s ability to manage flood risks effectively. The Agency has a six-year capital funding settlement for investment in flood defences (2021–22 to 2026–27), but only a one-year settlement for revenue funding (2021–22). Revenue … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the recommendation to reduce the adverse impacts of short-term funding cycles, highlighting its six-year capital investment programme and stating that future maintenance budgets, including for longer-term security, will be reviewed as part of Spending Review 2021.

HM Treasury

View details

9 Conclusion Deferred

Forty-Fifth Report - Managing floo…

Lead local flood authorities (unitary authorities or county councils) manage the risk of surface and...

Lead local flood authorities (unitary authorities or county councils) manage the risk of surface and ground water flooding, and flooding from ordinary water courses which are not main rivers. The funding local authorities receive for flood risk management is not … Read more

Government Response

The government agreed with the committee’s observation and committed to review local government funding for statutory flood and coastal erosion risk management functions as part of the Spending Review 2021.

HM Treasury

View details

11 Conclusion Deferred

Forty-Fifth Report - Managing floo…

The Government introduced partnership funding in 2011, requiring many flood schemes to be part-funded from...

The Government introduced partnership funding in 2011, requiring many flood schemes to be part-funded from sources other than government grant-in-aid. The cost of individual schemes is shared between national and local sources of funding, to allow more schemes to go … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the committee's observation about the success of partnership funding and notes existing policy actions to strengthen incentives. It has committed to review local government funding for flood risk management as part of the Spending Review 2021.

HM Treasury

View details

13 Conclusion Deferred

Forty-Fifth Report - Managing floo…

Nearly all this partnership funding has been obtained from public sector sources, with only £39...

Nearly all this partnership funding has been obtained from public sector sources, with only £39 million (7% of the total) being secured from the private sector. This is significantly lower than the 25% of partnership funding secured from the private … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding low private sector contributions and states that existing policy will further strengthen incentives. It has committed to review local government funding for flood risk management as part of the Spending Review 2021.

HM Treasury

View details

14 Conclusion Deferred

Forty-Fifth Report - Managing floo…

The government has a record of providing the Agency with long-term capital funding settlements, with...

The government has a record of providing the Agency with long-term capital funding settlements, with two six-year settlements covering 2015–16 to 2020–21 and 2021–22 to 2026–27. However, the Agency only has a revenue funding settlement covering the next financial year … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the observation, recognizing the benefits of multi-year budgets and highlighting its multi-year capital investment programme. However, it states that future revenue budgets will continue to be reviewed as part of Spending Review 2021.

HM Treasury

View details

15 Conclusion Deferred

Forty-Fifth Report - Managing floo…

The Agency told us that multi-year revenue funding settlements are preferable and help it to...

The Agency told us that multi-year revenue funding settlements are preferable and help it to plan in areas such as staffing. The Agency has skills shortages in some specialist areas like engineering that are critical for flood defence. It explained … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the observation that multi-year revenue funding is preferable, acknowledges the benefits of multi-year budgets, and will continue to review future budgets as part of Spending Review 2021.

HM Treasury

View details

Government Response AI assessment · 29 of 7 classified

Accepted 14

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 3

Deferred 7

Not Addressed 1

Rejected 3

Total 7 recs + 23 conclusions

Correspondence 4 letters

6 Jul 2021 Correspondence from Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, re Forty-fifth Report of Session 2019-21: ‘Managing Flood Risk’, dated 28 June 2021

Parliament page

16 Apr 2021 Correspondence from Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, re Forty-fifth Report of Session 2019-21: ‘Managing Flood Risk’, dated 7 April 2021

Parliament page

1 Feb 2021 Correspondence from Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive, Environment Agency, re recent research into flood risk for deprived areas, dated 27 January 2021

Parliament page

1 Feb 2021 Correspondence from Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, DEFRA, re regarding parish councils and their role in supporting flood and coastal erosion risk management locally, dated 27 January 2021

Parliament page