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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding (a) his Department and (b) the Environment Agency has made available for the restoration of chalk streams in each year since 2012.

Defra and the Environment Agency are undertaking a wide range of measures to protect and improve chalk streams - reducing abstraction, progressing measures on water conservation, working to improve water quality and legislating through the Environment Bill.

Details of Government spend through the Water Environment Improvement Programme are shown in an attachment.

Further investment is made direct by water companies. For example, Affinity Water and the Environment Agency have been working together with other partners to protect and revitalise the rivers in the Chilterns. The programme has reduced groundwater abstraction by 63 million litres of water a day since 1993 and is committed to further reducing groundwater abstraction by 36 million litres of water a day by 2025. Affinity Water has committed to continuing this work and has over 50 different restoration projects planned over the next five years, representing an investment of over £17 million.

To calculate the exact spend by the Government and water industry on chalk streams in the past would not be possible without further time and analysis. Future funding is conditional on decisions that will be taken through the Spending Review.