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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide adequate (a) funding and (b) resources to carry out year round testing for designated bathing water areas in the Newton Abbot constituency.

On 12 November, we launched a public consultation on proposed reforms to the Bathing Water Regulations 2013. A core proposal of this consultation is to move the fixed dates of the bathing season from the Regulations into guidance. This would provide the flexibility to amend bathing season dates based on local context, and for the Environment Agency to monitor outside the current fixed dates of the Bathing Season. Following analysis of responses, the Government response to the consultation will set out the next steps of this work, including any amendments.