Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 931
26 February 2021
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-fifth report from Session 2019-21 · published 31 Aug 2021
Recommendations & Conclusions
7 results
2
Recommendation
Deferred
Scarce local authority resources and low levels of private sector investment are barriers to the...
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
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4
Recommendation
Deferred
Short-term funding cycles are impacting on the Agency’s ability to manage flood risks effectively.
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
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9
Conclusion
Deferred
Lead local flood authorities (unitary authorities or county councils) manage the risk of surface and...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
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11
Conclusion
Deferred
The Government introduced partnership funding in 2011, requiring many flood schemes to be part-funded from...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
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13
Conclusion
Deferred
Nearly all this partnership funding has been obtained from public sector sources, with only £39...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
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14
Conclusion
Deferred
The government has a record of providing the Agency with long-term capital funding settlements, with...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
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15
Conclusion
Deferred
The Agency told us that multi-year revenue funding settlements are preferable and help it to...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
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