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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with Northumbrian Water on sewage from storm overflows in the Ouseburn.

Ministers and officials have regular discussions with a range of stakeholders, including water companies, on many issues related to the water sector including sewage pollution.

This Government has put in place the building blocks to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas.

The Water (Special Measures) Act introduced independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. This matches the pre-existing duty for storm overflows and create an unprecedented level of transparency. This will meet the Government commitment to ensure monitoring of every outlet.

The Independent Water Commission has examined how to strengthen the regulation and delivery of water services to better support long-term water security, sustainable growth, and environmental protection. The Former Secretary of State provided an Oral Statement to Parliament in response to the final report.

As Part of Price Review 24, which runs from 2025-2030, Northumbrian Water will be investing £1.1 billion to reduce the use of storm overflows by delivering on 159 spill reduction schemes. Northumbrian Water across 2025-2030 will undertake multiple site specific investigations in respect of the effects of intermittent discharges in respect of Environment Act objectives.