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 he has had with representatives of the water industry on reducing the discharge of sewage into rivers, seas and lakes.

I have repeatedly made it clear to the water industry that the current number of sewage discharges is unacceptable and we are going further and faster than any other government to protect and enhance the health of our rivers and seas. We are the first government to set the expectation via the Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat that the water industry must show significant reductions in the frequency and volume of those discharges. I regularly meet individual companies on their overall performance and make clear that reducing sewage discharges is a Government priority.

More widely, the Government is also working closely with the water industry as part of the Storm Overflows Taskforce in the development of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which will represent the largest investment in reducing storm sewage discharges in history.