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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of reductions in funding allocated to the Environment Agency in the financial year 2021-22 on its ability to undertake enforcement work.

For enforcement, monitoring and incident response, the Environment Agency (EA) receives the majority of its funding via Grant in Aid from the Government.

The funding directly allocated for enforcement has not reduced for the year 2021/22.

The EA will always seek to deliver the best outcomes for people and the environment and prioritise its enforcement work in line with the funding available, focusing on the cases that pose the greatest threat, risk and harm to the environment and communities.