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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference his Department's 25 year environment plan progress report of 11 June 2020, what recent assessment he has made on progress towards meeting the Government's long-term target of at least three-quarters of water bodies, including rivers, lakes, canals, coastal waters, and groundwater, to be restored to as close as possible to their natural state.

The Environment Agency's latest water body classification results 2019 showed that 16% of waters overall and 14 % of rivers are at Good Ecological Status. This is the same result as the data for 2016 which means progress in improving the ecological status of England's surface water has plateaued. More needs to be done and we need to go further and faster. The Government remains committed to bringing at least three quarters of our water to as close as possible to its natural state as soon as is practicable and in support of this, we will be bringing forward a further legally binding target in the Environment Bill. We are tackling pollution from poor farming practice with regulation, financial incentives and educational schemes for farmers. Water company investment is being scaled up to £4.6 billion, the highest yet, in the next five-year period. A new task force comprising the Government and water companies will help address the problem of sewage discharge from storm overflows and our new chemicals strategy will build on a robust statutory regime to ensure chemicals are managed and handled safely.