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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's Environment Improvement Plan 2023, published on 31 January 2023, what assessment she has made of the impact of water recycling schemes on the (a) target of reducing phosphate levels by 80 per cent by 2038 and (b) control the release of antimicrobials into aquatic environments.

Any water recycling option being considered by water companies in their draft statutory water resources management plans, must meet the environmental requirements for wastewater treatment discharges into the environment, including for phosphates or antimicrobial release. Water regulators, including the Environment Agency, will be responding to the consultations on the draft plans before the plans are referred to the Secretary of State later this year.