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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the environmental condition of the River Gipping in Suffolk.

The Environment Agency monitors the water quality, ecology (plants, invertebrates and fish) rainfall, river flows and groundwater levels of the River Gipping and its catchment. The Environment Agency delivered a fish survey report in 2019 for the River Gipping which indicated that fish populations within the river are stable, with an average of 10 species being recorded at each of the five survey sites. A further survey was completed this year and the results are still being analysed. The river is currently at Moderate Ecological Potential, with a target to achieve Good Ecological Potential by 2027. The main sources of pollution are agriculture and the water industry and there is a growing threat from plastics and forever chemicals.