Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the pressures on its spending, what its position is on whether it is now appropriate for all Flood Risk Management Plans that are still to be approved to be subject to Cycle Two arrangements.
For the last 15 years the Scottish Government has provided Local Authorities with £42m per annum for flood resilience through the general capital grant and we have committed to continue that until 2026. We have also committed an additional £150m over the course of this Parliament to deliver improved flood resilience.
The current distribution agreement is that 80% of available funding is allocated to the remaining schemes on the cycle one programme, and 20% allocated to local authorities to fund other actions within Flood Risk Management Plans.
A joint COSLA/ Scottish Government Flood Risk Management Funding Working Group has been set up to discuss funding and governance of flood resilience actions in Scotland. The group includes representatives from COSLA, SEPA, local authority Directors of Finance and flood officers, and the Scottish Government.
This group has put a series of recommendations to Scottish Ministers and COSLA leaders to improve the affordability of cycle one and will make further recommendations as required.