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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for its policies of locally developed bathing water frameworks that differ from national and international standards.

The Environment Agency has an ongoing statutory duty to monitor the water quality at designated bathing water sites in England in line with the Bathing Water Regulations 2013. I would encourage any local authority that is interested in developing a local framework to share their plans with Defra officials so that Defra can understand any interaction with national legislation.