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Source · National Audit Office

Resilience to flooding

We look at the government’s long-term ambition “to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk” and, in the more immediate term, whether Defra and EA are delivering value for money after two years of the capital programme.

Published: 15 Nov 2023 Recommendations: 9 Type: Value for Money NAO confirmed: 9 Department: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Dept: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Topics: Climate change and net zeroEnergy and environmentEnvironmental sustainabilityResilienceRisk and resilience nao.org.uk →

Recommendations

9 items
6 accepted 3 partially accepted 6 implemented 3 in progress

Recommendation 1

Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 17, paragraph 27, point a

Defra, EA and HM Treasury should:
a work together to ensure that decisions on the current reprofiling of the capital programme are not influenced by short-term funding periods and targets and are focused on maximising long-term value for money

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · Q4 2023-24 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 2

Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 17, paragraph 27, point b

by April 2024, explore how to ensure there is the necessary flexibility to easily switch money from the capital programme into the asset maintenance budget where it is value for money, and ensure the decision-making process is streamlined to enable timely decisions to be made. Defra and EA should undertake a timely assessment of the value for money of such options going forward to inform this decision-making process.

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · Q1 2025-26 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 3

Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 17, paragraph 28, point c

Defra and EA together should, as part of planning for the next capital programme:
c consider how they expect the profile of projects to change in size and nature and implement any partnership funding policy, rule or process changes that may be needed well in advance of the next capital programme

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · Q1 2026-27 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 4

Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 17, paragraph 28, point d

d take realistic account of staff resource constraints when setting out the objectives, scope and ambition of the next capital programme and the impacts on whole-life asset management

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · Q1 2025-26 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 5

Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 17, paragraph 28, point e

e assess how well the geographical distribution of investment reflects needs at a local level and publish their findings by the end of 2024 together with proposals to mitigate any funding inequalities that this may identify

Response position: Partially accepted

Delivery: Implemented · Q1 2026-27 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 6

Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 17, paragraph 28, point f

f engage over the next year with the private sector at a national and local level to publicise the benefits the private sector derives from the capital programme and encourage increased private sector financial contribution to the capital programme to reflect these benefits. Defra should also set a target for private sector partnership funding contributions for the next capital programme.

Response position: Partially accepted

Delivery: In progress · Q4 2026-27 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 7

Addressee: Environment Agency · Source location: Page 18, paragraph 29, point g

EA should:
g before planning starts for the next capital programme, develop a set of key long-term milestones and dates which chart the course towards becoming a nation resilient to flooding by 2100. This should look to cover a timetable comparable with the long-term investment scenarios 50-year view of flood risk and investment, and which goes beyond the six-yearly roadmap planning. It should include an integrated assessment of maintenance and capital spend to secure value for money

Response position: Partially accepted

Delivery: In progress · Q1 2027-28 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 8

Addressee: Environment Agency · Source location: Page 18, paragraph 29, point h

h in the next 12 months, develop a plan of work to investigate the reasons for the increased inaccuracy and uncertainty in its business case forecasts and, based on the findings, put in place remedial actions

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · Q1 2026-27 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 9

Addressee: Environment Agency · Source location: Page 18, paragraph 29, point i

i ensure that the Delivery Portfolio Improvement Plan delivers against its data and systems objectives by April 2024 to ensure the data EA collects and uses are complete, consistent and accurate, and provides the transparency needed by senior officials and ministers to fully understand the risks to progress. EA should review the position in April 2025 to ensure these objectives have been met and that data are of the required quality. In addition, EA should continue to improve its existing asset data in the AIMS:OM system with a target completion date of March 2025.

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: In progress · Q3 2026-27 · Confirmed by NAO

Public Accounts Committee follow-up

1 report

The Public Accounts Committee examined this NAO report and published its own recommendations. The government responds to PAC recommendations via Treasury Minutes.