The Government has rejected criticism of inadequate spending on flood defences in its formal response to the National Audit Office’s 2014 report on flood defence spending published this morning which claims that underlying spending has gone down.
Commenting on the NAO report, Flooding Minister Dan Rogerson said:
“The NAO has drawn conclusions on funding based on inappropriate comparisons. We have invested £3.2 billion in flood management and defences over the course of this parliament which is a real term increase and half a billion more than in the previous parliament. This has allowed us to protect 165,000 families and households in vulnerable areas.”
“Not only are we spending more than ever before, but we are also ensuring that our investment strategy will deliver long-term value for money. Next month, we will set out the first ever 6-year programme with record levels of investment, which will protect another 300,000 homes by the end of the decade.”
According to the statement, the NAO has compared two financial years (10/11 compared to either 13/14 or 14/15) rather than looking at the total amount spent over this Parliament - which will see a 5% real-term increase in flood spending, compared with the previous Parliament.
It also points out that the NAO figures exclude £200 million of additional funding which was provided following the winter floods and that repairs are carried out after every flooding event, large or small, often funded from the Agency’s existing budget. Previous years’ spending therefore also includes costs relating to incident response and repairing damaged flood defences.
Last month the Environment Agency met its deadline to restore flood protection in all areas affected by the winter floods.
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Click here for more information on the upcoming Flood Defence and Prevention Expo and conference in London in December
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