Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 10
4th Report – Flood resilience in England
Published 13 Oct 2025
Environmental Audit Committee Flood resilience in England All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government should embed nature-based solutions as a core component of national flood and coastal erosion risk management by 2027. Defra, working with the Environment Agency, HM Treasury, and other key partners, should: • Reform flood funding appraisal and partnership funding rules, following the Government’s current consultation on reforming the approach to floods funding, to better reflect the multi-benefit value of nature-based solutions. • Set national targets for the uptake of nature-based approaches in flood risk management by 2026. • Fully integrate nature-based solutions into flood, planning, and infrastructure policy by 2027, including economic support for landowners to incorporate flood resilience measures. (Recommendation, Paragraph 43)
From: Environmental Audit Committee, 4th Report – Flood resilience in England (HC 550), 13 October 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 23 December 2025 (deadline 13 December 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it shares the committee's view on the importance of flood resilience, agrees with some recommendations, and in some cases notes or considers them rather than accepting them, while declining to formalise the Flood Resilience Taskforce's role.
- On resilience standards, the government "notes" the recommendation and "will consider this as part of our existing commitment to explore a long-term target", with "a further statement next year".
- It does not agree to formalise the Flood Resilience Taskforce's role, saying this "would complicate the responsibilities and accountabilities".
- On making SuDS mandatory, it does not commit to commencing Schedule 3, saying improvement "could be achieved" by other means and it "will decide on which course of action to pursue in due course".
- On a statutory duty for Fire and Rescue Services to respond to flooding, it is "assessing the case", with the work "planned to conclude in summer 2026".