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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce sewage overflows into rivers and lakes; and whether a timeline has been set for achieving a significant reduction.

The Government is clear that water companies must take action to address storm overflow spills and are pleased that water companies are delivering a record amount of investment in Price Review 2024.

To deliver on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we are expecting £60bn of investment to be delivered across England by 2050. This should result in a reduction of over 300,000 spills from storm overflows per year by 2050 and ensure that no storm overflow is permitted to spill more than 10 times per year on average.