Defra has not established what the appropriate balance is between building new defences and maintaining existing ones. The Agency is responsible for maintaining its existing assets and has assessed that optimal value for money is achieved when 98% of its high consequence assets are maintained at their required condition. A lack of funding means the Agency has not been able to maintain assets at this level. 203,000 properties are at increased risk because assets are below their required condit...

Defra has not established what the appropriate balance is between building new defences and maintaining existing ones. The Agency is responsible for maintaining its existing assets and has assessed that optimal value for money is achieved when 98% of its high consequence assets are maintained at their required condition. A lack of funding means the Agency has not been able to maintain assets at this level. 203,000 properties are at increased risk because assets are below their required condition, more than the 200,000 better protected through the capital programme. Because of the slow start to the capital programme, the Agency spent £310 mill Type: recommendation | Number: 3 | Response status: accepted Government response: The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. capital and maintenance in order to maximise value for money. The department agreed with HM Treasury to move £25 million from the capital budget into its maintenance budget for 2023–24. Rebalancing budgets