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5 Jan 2010 : Column 69W—continued
Exemptions from EPR Waste regulation including land-spreading
Hazardous Waste Regulations
Groundwater Regulations (Groundwater Daughter Directive)
Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil Regulations
Sewage Sludge Regulations
Water Resources Act (Abstraction licensing, Consent to Discharge, avoiding pollution)
Land Drainage Act
Reservoirs Act
Flood Control: Finance
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding his Department allocated to (a) regional development agencies and (b) other bodies following the flooding in summer 2007 for flood prevention works; how much funding has been provided to each such body; and what criteria apply in respect of qualification for such funds. [307753]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
Regional development agencies (RDAs) are financed through a single budget, a fund which pools money from all the contributing Government Departments. From this single pot, RDAs provided
over £11 million support for the businesses affected in their regions, as part of the wider £136 million that Government made available to assist the affected regions and help those in greatest need. This includes funding for schools, transport and businesses. No specific funding was given to RDAs in respect of the 2007 floods.
Spending on flood risk management across central and local government has increased from £307 million in 1996-97 to over £655 million in 2008-09, and is due to reach £715 million in 2009-10 and £780 million in 2010-11. This will bring the total spent by DEFRA, the Environment Agency and local authorities over three years to £2.15 billion. £20 million of the original £800 million for 2010-11 was brought forward into this year's budgets as part of the fiscal stimulation package announced in the 2008 pre-Budget report.
Since the 2007 floods, DEFRA has given funding to a considerable number of bodies to plan for and reduce the risk of flooding and its impacts and ensure that communities and the essential services which supply them are protected. The sums outlined as follows represent the most significant of these funding allocations.
The majority of the funding is through the Environment Agency which allocates funding to regional flood defence committees for both new capital schemes and to maintain existing defences on the basis of national priorities to ensure that the funding is spent in the best way possible. Delivery is managed through the Environment Agency's regional offices.
The allocation to Environment Agency regions was £495.3 million in 2008-09 and £548.6 million in 2009-10.
In April 2006 the Environment Agency took on responsibility for the administration of capital grants payable to local authorities and internal drainage boards under delegation from DEFRA for all schemes promoted under the Land Drainage Act and for schemes under the Coast Protection Act from April 2008. In 2008-09 and 2009-10 £64 million was allocated in each year for projects delivered by these bodies.
£1 million has been made available to the Environment Agency to manage the intake of local authority trainees in September 2009 and to finance the trainees on the two-year Environment Agency Flood and Coastal Risk Engineering Foundation Degree. A further £175,000 has been made available to fund an intake of local authority trainees in September 2010.
As noted in annex A of the Progress Report (published 15 December 2009) on the Government's Response to Sir Michael Pitt's Review of the summer 2007 floods, £34.5 million is being allocated by DEFRA to delivery organisations to help cover the additional costs of taking forward the recommendations they are responsible for.
The following table shows how much has been allocated to date. It shows that a total of £20.2 million has been allocated to individual agencies and bodies by DEFRA so far.
The breakdown of the major funding schemes originating from Pitt Review recommendations and the criteria that apply for qualifying bodies are reproduced as follows:
1. Property level grant scheme
Local authorities allocated grants from the first round of the £5.5 million property level grant scheme (announced in June 2009 by the Secretary of State) amounted to £3 million. As yet, no claims for grant have been made against these allocations. Table 1 shows the geographical breakdown of recipients.
| Table 1: Local authority recipients of property level grant scheme funding | ||
| Local authority | Environment Agency region | Awarded (£) |
The basic criteria for the scheme is based on property type and the frequency and type of flooding. The full guidance for the scheme can be found at:
On 18 August the Secretary of State announced £16 million funding to help local authorities tackle surface water flooding.
£9.7 million was been awarded to 77 local authorities for areas where evidence shows that the risk and potential impact of surface water flooding could be highest. Local authorities for all other areas will also be able to bid for a share of £5 million to help them deal with known local flooding problems. £1 million has been allocated for building skills and capacity within local authorities.
The £9.7 million funding has been allocated to the following local authorities. The first payments are being made in December 2009. All London borough funding
is being made through the Drain London Forum. The methodology for determining the £9.7 million funding can be found on the DEFRA website at:
In addition, local authorities were able to bid for a part of the £5 million to help deal with known surface water problems. We are aiming to make an announcement to successful local authorities in January 2010. Funding will be made available after March 2010. The criteria for bids can be found at:
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