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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to reform processes for the (a) monitoring and (b) management of (i) ponds, (ii) headwater streams and (iii) other small waters.

The Environment Agency (EA) has in recent years expanded monitoring of headwater streams through its new Small Streams Network, and an increased number of smaller lakes with the Lake Surveillance Network, part of the Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment Programme. The evidence from this new monitoring will be subject to ongoing data analysis.

The EA also undertake occasional operational and investigative monitoring in very small streams in response to pollution, or where they are of particular importance locally.

Additionally, the Government will respond to the recommendations published in the final report of the Independent Water Commission through a White Paper and a new water reform bill, bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, investors and the environment and restore trust and accountability. Together with the building blocks the Government has already put in place, this will mark the most fundamental reset to our water system in a generation.