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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the Canal and River Trust to assume responsibility for the Environment Agency's navigable inland waterways.

The Government’s long-term aim is to transfer the Environment Agency’s navigations to the Canal & River Trust. We are open to sensible and serious proposals from both the Environment Agency and the Canal & River Trust and I understand that they have been working well together to develop options. I await their proposals with interest.