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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of ending operator self-monitoring of sewage overflows.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since 01 January 2025, water companies are required to publish data related to discharges from all storm overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning (under section 141DA of the Water Industry Act 1991 as inserted by section 81 of the Environment Act 2021).

Data must be published in a way that is accessible to the public and in a form that allows the public readily to understand it. To support this, Water UK have launched a central hub that provides discharge data of every storm overflow in England on a single website.

To further support understanding of the impact that sewage discharges have on the receiving watercourse, a programme to rollout Continuous Water Quality Monitors near storm overflows and sewage treatment works is beginning in Price Review period (PR24), which runs from 2025-2030. Monitors will be installed at 25% of assets in scope for the continuous water quality monitoring programme in the next Price Review 24. Sites prioritised for monitoring will be based on Defra’s priority areas, such as those that impact designated bathing and shellfish waters.

Combined, these measures are creating an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharging, and to hold water companies to account. Where breaches of legal requirements are identified as a result of this data, regulators won't hesitate to take action.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of visual sensors to monitor storm overflows.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since 01 January 2025, water companies are required to publish data related to discharges from all storm overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning (under section 141DA of the Water Industry Act 1991 as inserted by section 81 of the Environment Act 2021).

Data must be published in a way that is accessible to the public and in a form that allows the public readily to understand it. To support this, Water UK have launched a central hub that provides discharge data of every storm overflow in England on a single website.

To further support understanding of the impact that sewage discharges have on the receiving watercourse, a programme to rollout Continuous Water Quality Monitors near storm overflows and sewage treatment works is beginning in Price Review period (PR24), which runs from 2025-2030. Monitors will be installed at 25% of assets in scope for the continuous water quality monitoring programme in the next Price Review 24. Sites prioritised for monitoring will be based on Defra’s priority areas, such as those that impact designated bathing and shellfish waters.

Combined, these measures are creating an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharging, and to hold water companies to account. Where breaches of legal requirements are identified as a result of this data, regulators won't hesitate to take action.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the monitoring of storm overflows.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since 01 January 2025, water companies are required to publish data related to discharges from all storm overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning (under section 141DA of the Water Industry Act 1991 as inserted by section 81 of the Environment Act 2021).

Data must be published in a way that is accessible to the public and in a form that allows the public readily to understand it. To support this, Water UK have launched a central hub that provides discharge data of every storm overflow in England on a single website.

To further support understanding of the impact that sewage discharges have on the receiving watercourse, a programme to rollout Continuous Water Quality Monitors near storm overflows and sewage treatment works is beginning in Price Review period (PR24), which runs from 2025-2030. Monitors will be installed at 25% of assets in scope for the continuous water quality monitoring programme in the next Price Review 24. Sites prioritised for monitoring will be based on Defra’s priority areas, such as those that impact designated bathing and shellfish waters.

Combined, these measures are creating an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharging, and to hold water companies to account. Where breaches of legal requirements are identified as a result of this data, regulators won't hesitate to take action.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the timeline for implementing their 'marine net gain' policy.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is committed to nature recovery. Work is underway to develop options for the role marine net gain may play including consideration of timescales for operation of the policy.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the criteria for '30 by 30' at sea for the purposes of their commitment to protect and conserve a minimum of 30 per cent of land and sea for biodiversity by 2030.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra announced last week that we will undertake a review of the English MPA network to consider how it can better address biodiversity loss and be more resilient to climate change. We will update on the results of that review in due course.

Submit Evidence (by 12 May 2025)

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