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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions her Department has had with Thames Water on the discharge of untreated sewage into waterways.

Ministers and officials regularly meet with water companies to discuss a broad range of topics, including sewage discharges from storm overflows.

In February, the Secretary of State asked water and sewerage companies to set an action plan on every storm overflow in England, prioritising those that are spilling more than a certain number of times a year, and those spilling into bathing waters and high priority nature sites.

I hold a Ministerial Roundtable on the Thames Tideway Tunnel project twice a year to hear progress on the project and this is attended by Thames Water. Officials also regularly attend the Tideway Liaison Committee meeting, which is also attended by Thames Water, as well as having other informal meetings on the project direct with Thames Water.