Recommendations & Conclusions
14 items
3
Recommendation
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
In 2014 the NAO report on strategic flood management found there was a profusion of plans that often duplicate across geographical or administrative areas. Defra and the Agency have not followed the NAO recommendation to review their strategies and plans with a view to rationalise them to reduce the burden …
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In 2014 the NAO report on strategic flood management found there was a profusion of plans that often duplicate across geographical or administrative areas. Defra and the Agency have not followed the NAO recommendation to review their strategies and plans with a view to rationalise them to reduce the burden on communities and to promote public engagement. 6 Managing food risk Recommendation: Defra should write to the Committee within 6 months with an update on the opportunities to streamline local planning and with a timeline for implementation of any reforms.
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation and provides an update, committing to transform local flood risk planning by 2026, consult on reforms in due course, and is working to consult on updated draft Flood Risk Management Plans in Autumn 2021.
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HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The current indicators used to monitor national flood risk do not cover important elements such as risks to agricultural land, business premises, and infrastructure. The Agency uses the number of homes ‘better protected’ as the main performance indicator for its capital investment programme. It also uses its National Flood Risk …
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The current indicators used to monitor national flood risk do not cover important elements such as risks to agricultural land, business premises, and infrastructure. The Agency uses the number of homes ‘better protected’ as the main performance indicator for its capital investment programme. It also uses its National Flood Risk Assessment model to estimate the number of properties at risk of flooding each year, although changes in methodology make comparisons over different years uncertain. The Agency does not measure what is happening nationally to the overall flood risk for agricultural land or infrastructure. In addition to the specific indicators it is developing for the capital investment programme, the Department has also committed to developing a new set of national flood risk indicators by spring 2022. Recommendation: The Department’s new set of national flood risk indicators should incorporate all types of flood risk to ensure they provide a full picture of what is happening to flood risk including for homes, non-residential property, agricultural land, and infrastructure across England and should facilitate the comparison of flood risk across previous years so progress can be clearly assessed.
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation, confirming it is developing a new national set of flood risk indicators by Spring 2022 that will incorporate all types of flood risk (residential, non-residential, agricultural, infrastructure) and allow for comparison over time.
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HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The Department has not ensured that all regions, deprived areas in particular, get a fair share of the available funding. The Agency uses the level of risk in an area and the readiness of projects to go ahead to decide where to invest in flood defences. The Agency’s own research …
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The Department has not ensured that all regions, deprived areas in particular, get a fair share of the available funding. The Agency uses the level of risk in an area and the readiness of projects to go ahead to decide where to invest in flood defences. The Agency’s own research in 2020 shows that deprived areas are more at risk from flooding, yet the proportion of all homes ‘better protected’ that were in the 20% most deprived areas declined from 29% in 2014 to just 8% in 2019. The Managing food risk 7 Department speculates that this is largely due to viable projects in deprived areas happening early but has not done any analysis to back this up and it remains the case that deprived areas are more at risk. There is also significant variation in the level of flood defence investment per property at risk across regions. The timing and size of projects as well as the availability of match funding also created a variation in investment levels and the Agency recognised it needs to understand more about the pattern of investment and the impact of its decisions on communities. Recommendation: The Department and the Agency should undertake and publish annual analysis of investment levels across regions and deprived areas. This should be followed up by appropriate action to reduce any funding inequality. Annual analysis and reporting should start at the end of the first year of the next investment period (March 2022).
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation, committing to undertake and publish annual analysis of investment levels across regions and deprived areas through KPIs, with reporting beginning by Spring 2022, and will take appropriate action to reduce funding inequality.
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HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
We are not convinced that the Department has yet done enough to address the difficulties those recently flooded have in getting affordable insurance. Some people who have recently been flooded still face difficulties in obtaining affordable insurance. The Department states that the existence of Flood Re should ensure that affordable …
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We are not convinced that the Department has yet done enough to address the difficulties those recently flooded have in getting affordable insurance. Some people who have recently been flooded still face difficulties in obtaining affordable insurance. The Department states that the existence of Flood Re should ensure that affordable insurance is available even for those households at high levels of flood risk. However, the Department’s own research, following the floods in Doncaster in November 2019, suggests that some people were still unable to obtain affordable insurance. There also remain obstacles, and a lack of incentives, for households to take up property-level flood resilience measures such as installing flood barriers and doors. Such measures can reduce the damage and recovery time after a flood and could help people to get affordable insurance. There is scope to make flood resilience grants more effective, reform building regulations and introduce Flood Performance Certificates. Recommendation: The Department should write to us by April 2021 setting out the findings of its research into non-take up of insurance and how it is going to ensure remaining obstacles to obtaining affordable insurance are addressed. It should include what it is doing to overcome the obstacles to households implementing property-level flood resilience measures.
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Government response AI summary
The government accepted the recommendation, stating it wrote to the Committee by the deadline and committed to ongoing research into flood insurance, publishing responses to consultations on the Flood Re scheme and Property Flood Resilience (PFR) in due course, and continuing significant investment in PFR …
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HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The amount of funding local authorities receive for flood risk management is determined by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) local government funding formula. The Department told us that, taken as a whole, local authorities are spending more on flood risk management than they are allocated through …
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The amount of funding local authorities receive for flood risk management is determined by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) local government funding formula. The Department told us that, taken as a whole, local authorities are spending more on flood risk management than they are allocated through the funding formula. However, it recognised that there is wide variation in funding across individual local authorities and accepted that it needs a much better understanding of what individual local authorities are spending. The Department has committed to work with MHCLG to improve its understanding of the allocation of funding and spending within local authorities on flood risk management. This will include a review of the funding formula to determine whether it is targeting the right areas in the right ways to reflect local flood risk.10
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed with the committee's conclusion, confirming its commitment to review local government funding for statutory flood and coastal erosion risk management functions as part of the Spending Review 2021, aligning with the existing commitment noted by the committee.
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HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The Agency explained that on-going maintenance costs are increasing for three main reasons. First, as a result of more extreme weather due to climate change, both more extreme flooding and more extreme droughts. Second, some flood defences in England are quite old, having been built in the 1960s and 1970s. …
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The Agency explained that on-going maintenance costs are increasing for three main reasons. First, as a result of more extreme weather due to climate change, both more extreme flooding and more extreme droughts. Second, some flood defences in England are quite old, having been built in the 1960s and 1970s. They are now coming to the end of their design life. Third, the Agency is building more defences and these will require maintenance.17
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation and details its existing multi-year flood and coastal defence investment programmes, including a record £5.2 billion for the next six years, and past increases in maintenance funding. It also mentions reviewing future budgets as part of SR21.
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HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The Agency is on track to better protect 300,000 homes as a result of its capital investment programme for 2015–16 to 2020–21. While this a clear and easily understood measure, it does not provide any indication of what has happened to flood risk for non- residential buildings, agricultural land and …
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The Agency is on track to better protect 300,000 homes as a result of its capital investment programme for 2015–16 to 2020–21. While this a clear and easily understood measure, it does not provide any indication of what has happened to flood risk for non- residential buildings, agricultural land and infrastructure, although the Agency does separately measure the impact of the programme in these areas.20 Also, the measure does not take account of the impact of other homes becoming less well protected over the period due to, for example, through new housing development or the impacts of climate change. When taking these other impacts into account, the Agency estimates that nationally there will be 5% less economic damage from flooding in an average year as a result of the current programme. It also estimates that the next investment programme (2021–22 to 2026–27) will reduce damages by up to 11%. However, it acknowledges that this risk reduction calculation is based on a high-level model and the method of calculation has not been improved over the past six years, and that it is highly sensitive to the input assumptions. It also does not have a comprehensive measure to assess progress against this.21
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Government response AI summary
The government states it agrees with the committee's observation and is developing an improved framework for understanding overall flood risk, including new methods for calculating risk reduction. By Spring 2022, the department will have in place a full suite of metrics (KPIs) and a new …
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HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The Agency also uses its National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA) model to estimate the number of properties at risk of flooding each year. Due to changes in methodology over the 2015–16 to 2020–21 period, a direct comparison between years is not reliable. The Agency is due to update NaFRA in …
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The Agency also uses its National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA) model to estimate the number of properties at risk of flooding each year. Due to changes in methodology over the 2015–16 to 2020–21 period, a direct comparison between years is not reliable. The Agency is due to update NaFRA in 2024 to provide a more sophisticated analysis of overall flood risk.22
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the observation and states that the department and Agency are developing a framework for understanding overall flood risk, including improved methods, new KPIs by Spring 2022, and considering interim improvements to the current NaFRA before its 2024 update.
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HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
When we asked the Agency how it assesses overall national flood risk for non- residential buildings, agricultural land and infrastructure it said that it does not measure this unless it is part of a particular flood scheme. So, for example for agricultural land, the Agency does not know what has …
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When we asked the Agency how it assesses overall national flood risk for non- residential buildings, agricultural land and infrastructure it said that it does not measure this unless it is part of a particular flood scheme. So, for example for agricultural land, the Agency does not know what has happened to the overall level of flood risk over the current investment period 2015–6 to 2020–21.23
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the observation and is developing a framework for understanding overall flood risk, which includes improved methods like Expected Annual Damages (EAD) and a new suite of KPIs by Spring 2022, aiming to provide a more comprehensive national assessment for all asset …
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HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The Agency recognised that the way flood risks are often described, using percentages and probabilities of being flooded, are not very meaningful for the public. It described 18 Q 27: C&AG’s Report, para 16 19 Letter dated 27 January from Environment Agency to Committee 20 Q 30; C&AG’s Report, para …
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The Agency recognised that the way flood risks are often described, using percentages and probabilities of being flooded, are not very meaningful for the public. It described 18 Q 27: C&AG’s Report, para 16 19 Letter dated 27 January from Environment Agency to Committee 20 Q 30; C&AG’s Report, para 2.4–2.5; Letter dated 27 January from Environment Agency to Committee 21 Qq 41–42; C&AG’s Report, para 2.8, 3.16; 22 Q 41; C&AG’s Report, para 2.8 23 Qq 43–44 Managing food risk 13 how it is moving away from this way of describing flood risk. It now focuses on whether a community is at risk and what the community needs to do to prepare for future flood events.24
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the observation and commits to developing an improved framework for understanding overall flood risk, including new measurement methods and KPIs. By Spring 2022, the department will have in place new metrics and an oversight process to monitor flood risk and inform …
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HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The Department has committed to developing a new national set of indicators on flood risk by spring 2022. It confirmed that these new indicators will be measurable and will enable the tracking of national flood risk over time.25 24 Q 54 25 Qq 49, 55–56 14 Managing food risk 2 …
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The Department has committed to developing a new national set of indicators on flood risk by spring 2022. It confirmed that these new indicators will be measurable and will enable the tracking of national flood risk over time.25 24 Q 54 25 Qq 49, 55–56 14 Managing food risk 2 Local investment and resilience Local levels of investment
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation and reaffirms its commitment to developing a national set of indicators on flood risk by Spring 2022, outlining the framework and metrics currently being developed.
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HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (the Department) told us that the responsibility for deciding which flood defence schemes to invest in is delegated to the Environment Agency (the Agency). The Agency explained that it decides which schemes will form part of its six-year capital investment programme based …
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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (the Department) told us that the responsibility for deciding which flood defence schemes to invest in is delegated to the Environment Agency (the Agency). The Agency explained that it decides which schemes will form part of its six-year capital investment programme based on two factors: the extent to which a scheme will reduce the level of flood risk; and the readiness of a scheme to go ahead.26
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation on delegated responsibility for scheme selection. It commits to monitoring the performance of the investment programme, including regional and deprived area investment, through KPIs and a new governance board, with strengthened reporting of progress by Spring 2022.
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HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
The Agency published a report in 2020 which showed that people from more deprived areas faced greater flood risk than those living in less deprived areas, although the gap had narrowed in the last 15 years. The report also showed that the proportion of all homes ‘better protected’ as a …
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The Agency published a report in 2020 which showed that people from more deprived areas faced greater flood risk than those living in less deprived areas, although the gap had narrowed in the last 15 years. The report also showed that the proportion of all homes ‘better protected’ as a result of the Agency’s programme that were in the 20% most deprived areas increased from 4% in 2011 to 29% in 2014 but then declined to 8% in 2019. The Department believed that this pattern was due to some large schemes in deprived areas happening early which led to the increase and then decline in investment. The National Audit Office found that the Department had not carried out any analysis to support its explanation of the pattern of investment in deprived areas. The partnership funding model is designed to ensure deprived areas do not miss out on investment as a result of challenges in securing partnership funding. The Department stated that it does not think there is an underlying problem with the model but acknowledged that it needs to do more to understand this.27
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the implied need for better understanding and monitoring, committing to monitor the flood defence investment programme and report on investment in deprived areas via KPIs, with strengthened reporting in place by Spring 2022.
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HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Accepted
We also asked the Agency about the reasons for the wide variation in the level of flood defence investment per property at risk between regions. The Agency explained that the level of flood risk will determine where investment is made. It also said that the timing and size of flood …
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We also asked the Agency about the reasons for the wide variation in the level of flood defence investment per property at risk between regions. The Agency explained that the level of flood risk will determine where investment is made. It also said that the timing and size of flood defence schemes creates variation in investment levels. It acknowledged that it needs to understand more about regional investment patterns.28 Access to affordable insurance and property-level flood resilience
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the observation and commits to new actions, including monitoring regional investment patterns through KPIs, establishing a new governance board to review reports, and strengthening overall reporting by Spring 2022. It is also exploring ways to support local economies through a Call …
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HM Treasury