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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the potential number of rivers that will achieve good ecological status in each of the next five years.

The Environment Agency sets objectives for the ecological status of England’s water bodies, including rivers, and sets out the programmes of measures to achieve those objectives in our river basin management plans. These plans are updated on a six-yearly cycle. The objectives for water bodies over the next six-year cycle (2021-2027) are contained in the updated draft river basin management plans which are currently available for statutory public consultation:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/draft-river-basin-management-plans-2021