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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve water quality.

Restoring water quality is a Government priority. We will shortly be setting new legally binding targets for water under the Environment Act to provide a strong mechanism for driving long-term environmental improvements.

This Government is the first to take action to tackle the historic infrastructure issue of sewage overflows, with new duties through the Environment Act on the water industry to reduce the harm they cause. Water company investment in environmental improvements has been scaled up to £7.1 billion over the period 2020-25. Through the next Price Review (PR24) we are using the strategic policy statement to Ofwat, the economic regulator, to make the environment a top priority.

We have doubled investment in the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme creating a new annual budget of £30 million, which means that 100% of England’s farmers will be able to access advice. The new Environmental Land Management schemes will also play a major role in rewarding farmers for actions that improve water quality. Funding will also be made available for farmers to improve their slurry infrastructure from autumn 2022. We have also made extra budget available to the EA for 50 extra inspectors to be recruited in this financial year to visit farms posing a risk of water pollution.