Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will (a) ask the Environment Agency to conduct bathing water tests in the context of the activation of storm overflows and (b) make an assessment of the potential merits of routinely conducting bathing water tests all year round.

Event duration monitoring (EDM) data shows how often storm overflows are active and for how long. Government directed water companies to increase their storm overflow monitoring in 2013 and achieved 100% EDM coverage before the end of 2023. This increased transparency will help regulators hold water companies to account to reduce storm overflow discharges and will support public understanding of water quality. The Bathing Water Regulations require the Environment Agency to sample bathing waters at a fixed location using a pre-determined sampling schedule during the bathing season, which is fixed in the Bathing Water Regulations as 15 May to 30 September. The government is committed to reviewing the Bathing Water Regulations 2013 to ensure they reflect changes in how and where people use bathing waters.