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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of water companies in reducing storm overflow discharges.

The Government published a report on 11 December which highlights that while progress has been made to reduce spills from storm overflows, the amount of sewage entering our waterways is still unacceptable. This government is committed to transparency around the scale of this challenge and we’re taking decisive action to tackle it.

Over £10 billion will be spent in the next five years to upgrade 2,500 overflows in England, alongside more monitoring and inspections than ever before.

Our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act will introduce independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows, in addition to storm overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill. This will create an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharging, and hold water companies to account.

Our Water White Paper will set out long-term reforms to strengthen regulation, tackle pollution, and accelerate the delivery of vital infrastructure.