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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish the outcome of its consultation on the Bathing Water Regulations.

Defra, jointly with the Welsh Government, ran a consultation on a package of reforms to the Bathing Water Regulations 2013 that was open between November – December 2024.

In March 2025 the Government published its response to this consultation, setting out the intention to implement three Core Reforms and several Technical Amendments to the Bathing Water Regulations 2013.

A Statutory Instrument was then laid before Parliament on 28 October 2025, introducing the three core reforms and technical amendments into law. The majority of the Regulation came into force on the 21 of November 2025. Core Reform 2 will come into force on the 15 of May 2026.