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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to reduce marine environment pollution caused by sewage processing.

Pollution caused by sewage is mainly addressed through the implementation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations, which have set standards for the collection and treatment of sewage since 1994. Since privatisation around £9 billion has been invested to reduced pollution from sewage treatment with much of this focusing on discharges in coastal areas. In England, between 2015 and 2020, water companies are investing over £2 billion to improve their sewerage infrastructure, guided by the requirements of the Environment Agency. This includes investment to improve coastal sewage treatment works and collecting systems with the aim of reducing the polluting impact of sewage discharges on the marine environment.