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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to improve the resilience of inland waterways against the effects of climate change.

Ministers do not have a role in operational matters on inland waterways, which rests with the navigation authorities that own and manage them. This includes having appropriate maintenance programmes in place to ensure public safety and resilience of their assets and infrastructure against the effects of climate change.

Under the upcoming fourth round of climate adaptation reporting (ARP4), introduced under the Climate Change Act 2008, the Government will invite the Canal and River Trust to report and will also request additional reporting from the Environment Agency on their canal and river activities.