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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of strengthening the Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan by (a) accelerating the targets for water companies to reduce harm by 2030 and (b) adding targets for the Government on tackling the root causes of excess storm overflows.

We have committed to review the targets in the plan in 2027. This will occur ahead of the 2029-2034 water company planning cycle (PR29) once new information, including from companies' business plans, is available. This will allow us to establish if companies can go further and faster to achieve the storm overflow targets in the Plan without having a disproportionate impact on consumers bills.

Tackling the root cause of storm overflows is a priority in the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which sets out how better rainwater management is key to achieving reduction in sewage discharges from storm overflows. This is the most ambitious plan to address storm sewage discharges in water company history and new strict targets will see the toughest ever crack down on sewage spills.