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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has received a request for assistance with algal bloom pollution in Lough Neagh from the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.

The Secretary of State and the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland recently discussed the shared priority of improving water quality in the UK. There was agreement to collaborate further by enhancing joint scientific research and exchanging best practice methods to tackle pollution of culturally and economically important water bodies such as Lough Neagh.