Under Schedule 3 to the Floods and Water Management Act 2010, any construction work that has drainage implications would need approval from the local authority that its drainage met national standards for sustainable drainage before it is connected to the public sewer. This schedule has never been implemented for England. Defra told us it is committed to enacting the schedule, but does not expect this will be until the end of 2024. This additional work will add to each local authorities’ burden.34 This should now become a priority for the development as some new sustainable drainage systems are not being properly designed and installed and need to be better supervised by empowering the lead flood authority to do so. 26 Q 14 27 C&AG’s Report, para 1 28 Q 49 29 Qq 17, 60–61; C&AG’s Report, para 13 30 Q 17 31 Q 24; Committee of Public Accounts: Managing food risk. 45th report of Session 2019–21, HC 931, February 2021, para 2 32 C&AG’s Report, para 2.22 33 Qq 17, 37 34 Qq 55–56; Letter from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency to the Public Accounts Committee, dated 7 December 2023 Resilience to fooding 13 2 Impact The number of properties the programme will protect