Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 22 April 2025.
Perran Moon
Labour, Camborne and Redruth
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that (a) polluted and (b) unsafe (i) beaches and (ii) bathing areas have signage to alert the public.
Emma Hardy
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
At designated bathing water sites in their area, local authorities have a statutory duty to display information on a static sign about water quality and pollution sources, and to display advisory notices during pollution incidents. The information on the signage required by the Bathing Water Regulations 2013, consists of: the current classification symbol, with the “advice against bathing” symbol if the bathing water quality classification is Poor; a general description of the bathing water, based on the Environment Agency profile; and the address of a website where more detailed information can be found.
If the bathing water is subject to short-term pollution, the notice includes this information, and the number of pollution risk forecasts made during the preceding bathing season.
Other signage regarding safety and pollution is a matter for the relevant local authority.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
