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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of his Department’s partnership funding framework has been spent on property level protection schemes to date.

Dan Rogerson

Property Level Protection describes a suite of measures used in places where other solutions are either not cost effective or not practical. The amount allocated to schemes since the partnership funding approach was launched in 2012 is £2.43M. This consists of £2.08M in Grant in Aid from the Government, and contributions of £0.35M from partners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the Repair and Renew Grant for flooded businesses or households has been (a) allocated to local authorities and (b) received by households or businesses to date.

Dan Rogerson

Local authorities make payments to households and businesses and invoice Defra quarterly for these amounts. We are expecting the first invoices in July.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the Support for Fishermen Fund to replace lost and damaged fishing gear has been received by fishermen and businesses to date.

George Eustice

To date, one claim for support to replace lost and damaged fishing gear has been made with a grant value of £2,320, with final validation checks currently being carried out against another three claims worth £14,257. So far, 110 applications have been received with a grant value of £349,218. Of these, 33 projects have been approved so far with a grant value of £74,047.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the Farming Recovery Fund to cover the cost of restoration of agricultural land following the recent floods has been received by farmers and businesses to date.

Dan Rogerson

As of 10 June 2014 a total of 131 applications have been received with a total grant request of £1,173,310.

Of these, 62 applications have been approved with a total grant request of £403,617.

In view of the continued level of interest in the Farming Recovery Fund we are exploring with officials the possibility of extending the closing date beyond 27 June 2014.

You will also wish to be aware that the Farming and Forestry Improvement Scheme (FFIS) which supports investments targeting farming competitiveness closed on 4 April having received more than 2,700 applications and a national grant request of over £27m.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the Flood Defence Repair Fund paid to the Environment Agency has been (a) allocated to the Environment Agency and (b) spent by the Environment Agency to repair flood defences to date.

Dan Rogerson

Defra has made available to the Environment Agency an additional £30 million in 2013/14 and up to £135 million in 2014/15, to respond to the winter floods and repair flood and coastal defences. The Environment Agency spent £31.2 million on repairs and emergency response between January and March 2014. This includes £26 million on asset repair costs, £1.5 million of which was paid to local authorities. The remaining £5.2 million was spent on other associated costs, such as incident management and emergency response. These are the latest figures available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings his Department had with the National Farmers’ Union in the six months before the start of the pilot badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset in 2013; and whether he advised that union to operate a media blackout during the first phase of the culls.

George Eustice

Meetings were held with the National Farmers Union in the six months prior to the start of the pilot culls in 2013.

There was no media blackout during the pilots. Defra and the National Farmers Union continued to make spokespeople available to talk to the media throughout the period in which culling was taking place.

However, both the National Farmers Union and Defra were always clear that operational information that could compromise the effectiveness of the cull or the safety of those involved would not be disclosed during the operation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of the Severe Weather Recovery Scheme awarded to local authorities for costs incurred during the recent floods has been (a) allocated to and (b) received by local authorities to date.

Brandon Lewis

£73.5 million has been allocated to, and received by, local authorities for costs incurred during the recent floods under the first phase of the Severe Weather Recovery Scheme. The closing date for the second tranche of the funding was 6 June.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the Flood Relief Fund for Sport announced to restore damaged pitches, sport centres and facilities has been (a) allocated to local authorities and (b) received by sports facilities to date.

Mrs Helen Grant

Sport England’s Flood Relief Fund has made a total of 225 awards to date, totalling £515,542, of which:

(a) Three awards totalling £6,560 have been made to Local Authorities.

(b) 222 awards totalling £508,982 have been made to sports clubs.

The fund will remain open for applications until Autumn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the Tourism Industry Fund for businesses in flood-affected parts of England has been (a) allocated to local authorities and (b) received by businesses to date.

Mrs Helen Grant

The Government’s tourism package on flood support was not grant based but, alongside a marketing programme, was funded business support offered via local workshops and drop in clinics to tourism and tourism related businesses. These sessions were organised locally by Destination Organisations on behalf of VisitEngland. They were accessed by over 700 businesses. Money was only allocated to local authorities where they were the accountable body for the Destination Organisations. This totalled £83,798 but not all Destination Organisations have local authorities as their accountable body.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of the Government’s Council Tax Relief Fund for people whose homes have been flooded has been (a) allocated to local authorities and (b) received by residents to date.

Brandon Lewis

As at 2 June 2014, 4,031 households were in receipt of a council tax discount from their local authority as a result of the impact of flooding. There are no set or advance allocations to councils. The fund works by councils retrospectively claiming back the cost of the council tax relief (in the same way, for example, as the Bellwin Scheme has always worked). Local authorities recently submitted the first round of claims for reimbursement. Subject to data checking, we expect reimbursement payments in the region of £1.8 million to be made shortly.

Further information on the available flood support schemes is available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flood-support-package-for-homeowners-and-businesses

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