Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) are required to report on progress with their strategies on an annual basis and the last annual collection was as of 31 March 2017. Following this, I wrote in July to the outstanding authorities and as a result, as of the beginning of November 2017, out of the 152 in England:

1. 143 have completed and published their strategy; and

2. 9 have either completed their public consultation or were at public consultation stage on their draft.

The Department is continuing to monitor progress with the Lead Local Flood Authorities that have not yet completed their strategy.

The table below indicates the flood risk management schemes in Leeds, Cumbria, Calder Valley and York that were allocated funding from the £150 million investment announced in the Budget 2016.

The ‘Calder Valley - Flood Risk Reduction Scheme 1’ comprises a package of works to reduce flood risk throughout the Calder Valley while the ‘Calder Valley - Flood Risk Reduction Schemes 2’ entails a package of works to deliver catchment-wide measures and to develop potential schemes for affected communities in place such as Brighouse, Sowerby Bridge, Copley, Midgely, Halifax.

Natural flood management solutions are an important part of our approach to reducing flood risk. The recently announced £15m investment specifically for natural flood management schemes across England presents an important opportunity to further develop the evidence base around working with natural processes to reduce flood risk. We are, therefore, thinking carefully about where these schemes are based, and so have not yet announced specific locations that will be supported by the fund.

The Environment Agency will be administering the £15m investment, and have already been working with Natural England, Forestry Commission and local partners to identify project proposals. Following the announcement of the fund they can now begin to work with partners to fully scope these opportunities, which will then need to be robustly assessed against a set of agreed criteria. Further details of the process for confirming projects and their locations will be announced in due course.

The £170 million flood defence and resilience funding announced at Autumn Statement 2016 is an allocation from the £700m announced in the March 2016 Budget.

The £15m announced by the Secretary of State to be spent on Natural Flood Management is included within the £700m for flood defence and resilience funding announced in the March Budget.

We have completed 130 new flood schemes this year, protecting over 55,000 households. All but three of the 660 Environment Agency flood defences damaged last winter have now been repaired and the three remaining assets have contingency plans in place. The Environment Agency recently launched its flood awareness campaign and last month we launched the property level resilience action plan on how householders can protect their homes from flooding. It also details measures that will allow them to get back into their home more quickly if they are, unfortunately, flooded.

About half of the money has already been allocated, but the hon. Lady may not yet be aware that the autumn statement included the announcement of a package of £170 million to be deployed, £150 million of which is specifically to tackle road and rail.

We are investing £2.3 billion in 1,500 flood defence improvement schemes over the next six years - which is a record capital settlement for government. This will provide better protection to at least 300,000 households.

In addition to this, we have identified £600 million of additional partnership funding. Six months into a six-year programme, £250 million has been secured and potential funding contributions to cover the remaining £350 million have been identified.

Of the £250 million secured contributions, £61 million comes from the private sector and £189 million comes from Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships and other public bodies.

The following table sets out the capital spend on flood and coastal erosion risk management between 2010/11 and 2014/15.

The table provided in my answer of 26 March 2013, Official Report, columns 1036-40W, details flood and coastal risk management schemes that are moving into construction in 2013-14. Of the total external contribution spend across these projects, the public contributions amount to approximately £53 million. Private contributions amount to approximately £13 million.

Unless specific permission is obtained from the organisations in question, the Government does not release the names of organisations or the details of specific contributions to individual flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes. In some cases, the Government would be in breach of confidentiality clauses if such information was disclosed.

Prior to partnership funding, income for schemes was not aggregated and therefore a breakdown of schemes is not held centrally.

The Skipton Flood Alleviation Scheme will be funded by both the public and private sectors. Around £6 million will be funded from Flood Defence

grant in aid, with a further £1.7 million from the additional flood alleviation funding announced as part of the 2012 autumn statement.

The Environment Agency is at an advanced stage in its negotiations with other parties for additional funds.

Unless specific permission is obtained from the organisations in question, the Government does not release the names of organisations that contribute to flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes. In some cases the Government would be in breach of confidentiality clauses if such information was disclosed.

Unless specific permission has been obtained from the organisations in question, the Government do not release the names of organisations that contribute to flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes. In some cases the Government would be in breach of confidentiality clauses if such information were disclosed.

One example is that Nestle will provide almost £2 million to help deliver a scheme in Derbyshire to better protect the villages of Scropton, Hatton and Egginton from the River Dove. The local community are also making contributions to help fund the £7.1 million scheme. Another example is the £9.7 million scheme at Skipton, North Yorkshire, where £2 million contributed by local authorities and businesses will reduce flooding to over 350 residential and 165 business properties in the market town.

The current Partnership Funding system started in April 2012. Prior to the start of Partnership Funding, income for schemes was aggregated and therefore a breakdown by scheme for 2010-11 and 2011-12 is not held centrally. Information on the aggregate income for these years was provided in my answer of 14 March 2013.

Regarding the data for schemes moving into construction in 2012-13 with confirmed external contributions, I refer to my answer of 5 September 2012, Official Report, column 348W.

For future years, the following table provides details of schemes that are due to commence in 2013-14 with external contributions.

Schemes commencing construction in future years beyond 2013-14 do not have confirmed funding until Grant in Aid allocations are confirmed.

Overall, contributions have come forward from a range of sources, including from businesses, local authorities and communities. However in many cases, external contributors prefer not to disclose their contributions.

It is estimated that Partnership funding will secure around £148 million of external funding on top of the £2.3 billion the Government are investing in flood and coastal erosion risk management over this spending period (April 2011 to March 2015).

The following tables summarise the total external contributions that supplemented Government spending on flood and coastal risk management projects in England in the previous three years and the amounts that are anticipated in each of the next three years.

In 2012-13, the Environment Agency updated the flood and coastal risk management projects programme to reflect the new Partnership Funding approach. Partnership Funding clarifies what level of investment communities can expect so that they can secure funding from other sources to allow schemes to go ahead. It therefore gives local people more choice in how their community is protected as well as a method by which taxpayer funding can be spread further and achieve more.

The figures for the financial years up to 2011-12 represent the total amounts spent.

The figures for 2012-13 onwards are current best estimates of the amounts to be spent, based on expected contributions. They are subject to change based on final scheme outturns and final negotiations with all partners.

None of the figures quoted include local levy income from Regional Flood and Coastal Committees.

The Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder scheme is designed to encourage local authorities and their partners to think creatively about how local community and household resilience to flooding could be improved.

On 6 December 2012, a brochure describing the scheme was published on the DEFRA website. This gave examples of the types of approaches that may be eligible. These include projects that install property level protection measures coupled with a wider package of innovative community measures; improving local flood risk mapping and modelling where existing data sets may not accurately capture the local level of risk; projects inspiring communities to become more active participants in their flood management by supporting practical measures such as “gully watch” schemes or installation of local monitoring equipment; and disseminating information or carrying out local exercises to improve flood awareness and preparedness.

Of the £36 million paid to lead local flood authorities, £21 million will be provided through the business rate retention system in 2013-14 and 2014-15. The remaining £15 million will be paid through local services support grants. The overall funding for local authorities to manage local flood risks will be the same as this year (2012-13) although will be paid through different routes.

It is proposed that in both 2013-14 and 2014-15 the amount of the Lead Local Flood Authorities Grant to be transferred into the Business Rate Retention Scheme will be £21 million.

The following table summarises the yearly total expenditure of flood and coastal risk management grant in aid on property level flood protection measures:

In this financial year (2012-13) we provisionally expect to spend £0.6 million under the DEFRA partnership funding approach.

Since 2011, property level protection has been available as part of a range of measures that can be funded through the partnership funding approach and local levy. These awards are made on the basis of outcomes and value for money.

Partnership funding has so far brought forward a sum of £72 million in external co-funding during this year and for the next two years. During the three years before partnership funding was introduced a total of £13 million was secured. As part of the current investment planning round, the £72 million figure is expected to increase further.

DEFRA has also recently launched a Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder scheme with a total budget of £5 million to support innovative community action to improve resilience. The projects funded under this scheme may include an element of capital funding, including property level protection measures, but would need to demonstrate additional forms of innovation beyond simply supplying equipment.

During the three years before Partnership Funding was introduced (2008-09 to 2010-11) a total of £13 million of external contributions were received towards flood and coastal risk management projects in England, In 2011-12 the Environment Agency received £5.4 million of external contributions. The Flood and Coastal Resilience Partnership Funding policy was introduced in May 2011 in order to increase levels of external investment from 2012-13 onwards. In its first year of operation the new policy brought forward up to £72 million in external contributions, with this sum expected to increase further as part of this second year of operation.