§ Ms KeebleTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps have been taken to monitor the implementation of the ministerial directive of March 1996 directing the Environment Agency to make flood warnings its top priority. [40595]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Ministerial Direction of March 1996 required the Environment Agency, with effect from 1 September 1996, to take the lead in disseminating flood warnings in England and Wales.
Safeguarding of life is the highest Ministry priority and this is reflected in the priority we give to grant aiding capital expenditure on flood warning systems.
418Ware currently being held with the TECs to assess the extent to which they will be able to draw on their reserves to support the Government's commitment to the introduction of Individual Learning Accounts and the extent to which any balance of funding can be covered from future operating surpluses.
§ Mr. HainThe information requested is in the table.
In the past two years, the Ministry has contributed some £0.5 million of grant towards the Agency's flood warning arrangements.
My officials have worked with the Agency in its implementation of the Ministerial direction. This has included overseeing studies of the effectiveness, and public awareness, of the inherited arrangements; the development of flood warning dissemination plans; and development of a flood warning strategy.
§ Ms KeebleTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many applications for capital grants for(a) new build and (b) maintenance there were in the Anglian, Thames and Severn Trent Water Company areas in each of the years 1990 to 1998. [40596]
419W
§ Mr. MorleyThis Department does not provide grant aid for flood defence maintenance. The numbers of applications for grant towards the cost of new or improved
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Anglia EA 54 61 90 68 66 42 36 35 LAs 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 3 IDBs 27 33 16 19 26 21 23 13 Thames EA 21 15 17 13 10 15 14 25 LAs 3 0 2 1 2 2 0 2 IDBs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Severn Trent EA 10 8 14 20 8 11 16 3 LAs 3 4 2 5 1 3 4 2 IDBs 3 3 2 2 0 0 3 1 Figures are not available for 1998.