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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department last met with representatives of British Canoeing on access on Inland Waterways; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of granting canoeists the same level of access rights on inland waterways in England as is granted in Scotland.

I met British Canoeing to discuss access on inland waterways on 26 November.

Government policy continues to be that access to rivers should be arranged through voluntary agreements between landowners, canoeists and those wishing to use the water for recreational purposes.