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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support local community organisations that aim to clean inland waters.

Defra and its partner organisations support and encourage action by local communities in improving the water environment. The Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) is a framework for co-ordinating partnership action between the public, private and third sectors with a specific focus on water. Since its launch in 2012, CaBA has grown from 25 pilots to include over 100 Catchment Partnerships consisting of 2,500 organisations covering England and cross border areas with Wales. They engage and empower local communities and help them to bring their local knowledge, resource and expertise to reduce flood risk, improve sustainable management of water resources and resilience to climate change.

Defra and the Environment Agency supports this local action by funding via CaBA Catchment Hosts, a central National Support Group and, in addition, £27 million of Government investment over three years has supported local projects through the Water Environment Grant scheme.