Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
The Department has not ensured that all regions, deprived areas in particular, get a fair...
Conclusion
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).
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 6.2 The government invests wherever flood risk is highest across the country, and where it will benefit the most people and property. This is reflected in the government’s Partnership Funding policy which allocates funding as grant in aid (GiA) for flood and coastal defence projects. This provides a fair and consistent basis for allocating GiA and securing wider contributions where others stand to benefit from a defence scheme. Households in the 20% most deprived parts of the country continue to qualify for funding at 2.25 times the rate than that available to non-deprived households. The government will monitor the performance of the FCERM flood defence investment programme, including regional investment, to ensure it continues to better protect and better prepare communities and properties across England. 6.3 Going forward, the department will be working with the Agency to report on properties better protected in deprived areas and investment by Office for National Statistics (ONS) region through its KPIs to track performance against our investment policy. These reports will be reviewed by a new governance board which will be in place to review and track progress across the next investment period. 6.4 More widely, the department has committed to strengthen reporting of progress towards its goals so that it is clearer and more accessible, and to consider how the existing arrangements can be improved, by Spring 2022. The department will consider how the changes in monitoring of investment across regions and deprived areas can be incorporated as part of this wider work. 6.5 Flood and coastal defence schemes can also have local economic benefits. The department is exploring as part of the Call for Evidence on Partnership funding policy, how the department can further support the resilience of lower performing local economies and small communities to flood and coastal erosion risks.