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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the levels of nitrates in English waterways.

The levels of pollution in our waters, including nitrates, are unacceptable. We are prioritising cleaning up our waters.

We are reviewing the Environmental Improvement Plan and will create a new, statutory plan for how the department will protect and restore our national environment and meet each of our ambitious targets, including reducing pollution. We nonetheless continue to work with farmers to deliver improvements and drive down agricultural pollution including through regulations, Environmental Land Management schemes and advisory services. As a first key step, we have established a programme to reform the agriculture water regulations to ensure they effectively deliver pollution reductions whilst supporting farm businesses to grow.