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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the levels of pollution in rivers and lakes in England; and how many have achieved a good ecological status.

The Environment Agency's State of the Environment: Water Quality Report 2018 is the most recent assessment of water pollution. The Environment Agency's water body classification results 2019 show that 16% of England's surface water reached good ecological status. More needs to be done and we need to go further and faster. We are tackling pollution from poor farming practice with regulation, financial incentives and educational schemes for farmers. In addition to Government investment in many local improvement schemes, 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 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.