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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will commission a statutory inquiry into alleged dumping of raw sewage by the water industry.

The Government has been consistently clear that the volume of sewage discharged by water companies into our waters is unacceptable, and they must significantly reduce how much sewage they discharge as a priority.

Our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan sets stringent targets for water companies to reduce the use of storm overflows and will drive the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £60 billion capital investment over 25 years.

Furthermore, the Government is working to hold the water industry to account on a scale never seen before.

Our regulators, the Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat, have launched the largest criminal and civil investigation into water company sewage discharges ever, at over 2200 treatment works, following new data coming to light as a result of increased monitoring.

The EA will continue to investigate and take action against any water companies that are suspected of breaching legal requirements in line with their enforcement and sanctions policy.