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 ensure the quality of bathing waters.

Our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan requires water companies to improve all storm overflows discharging into or near designated bathing waters by 2035. The Environment Secretary has also demanded an action plan on every storm overflow in England.

The Environment Agency monitors all bathing waters in England with action plans in place at all ‘poor’ waters. Last year 93% of bathing waters were classified as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, up from 76% in 2010.