RIVERS
Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many English rivers he assesses are of good ecological status. [204542]
Dan Rogerson, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for water, forestry, rural affairs and resource management: The 2013 Water Framework Directive (WFD) classification results for England report that 1,017 rivers are assessed as being of, or having potential for, good ecological status. This is 21% of assessed river water bodies. These are the most recent classification results available for Cycle 1 of the WFD planning cycle (2009 to 2015).