Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the recent parasitic outbreak in drinking water in Devon, what assessment they have made of (1) the proposed compensation for affected consumers, and (2) the impact on consumer confidence.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Guaranteed Standards Scheme sets minimum statutory standards of service for customers of water and sewerage companies, and where a company fails to meet any of these standards it is required to make a specified payment to the affected customer. Several companies also offer enhanced Customer Services Promises in addition to the statutory requirements, including compensation payments for additional standards.
In relation to the incident in Devon, the Secretary of State appreciated the considerable concern and disruption to the local community. He raised those concerns directly with the Chief Executive. South West Water increased its standard payment within its Customer Service Promise for a boil water notice to £115. Some customers will receive £265 which represents financial compensation equivalent to over 50% of South West Water’s average annual bill per household, according to Ofwat’s bill estimates.
Excellent customer experience is important to maintain consumer trust and confidence in the water sector. We expect water companies to take that seriously, to respond to events appropriately in a timely manner and to deliver better services to their customers.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address public concerns concerning (1) the quality of drinking water, and (2) the discharge of untreated waste into the sea, rivers and lakes.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is important not to conflate the quality of raw water and drinking water. Drinking water quality in England is of an exceptionally high standard and among the best in the world. Compliance with drinking water quality standards has been consistently high for a number of years, with a rate of 99.97% in 2022.
The Government published the Plan for Water in April 2023 – our comprehensive strategy for managing our water environment. It brings together the significant steps we have already taken with a suite of new policy actions. It aims to change the way that we manage water, improve water quality, and continue to secure our water supply through increased investment, stronger regulation and enforcement.
The Government is clear that the amount of sewage discharged into our waters is unacceptable. The Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan (SODRP) sets out stringent targets to protect people and the environment; and prioritises for early action areas used for bathing, for growing shellfish or with high ecological importance. The SODRP will drive £60 billion investment between now and 2050 to improve storm overflows, the largest infrastructure programme in water company history.
We will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, the regulators will not hesitate to hold companies to account.
The recent cryptosporidium outbreak in Brixham is extremely unfortunate and it is a horrific experience for the people who have been made ill. The Drinking Water Inspectorate is actively investigating the cause, extent and actions of the company, and will take actions including enforcement action in due course to prevent this type of event happening again.
Thankfully, these events are very rare, and elsewhere consumers should continue to have confidence in their high quality drinking water.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the level of pollution in the River Wear.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) routinely assesses the level of pollution in the River Wear, taking water samples from multiple sampling sites. The EA is working with the Coal Authority, Northumbrian Water and local farmers to reduce pollution levels in the River Wear.
Northumbrian Water who operate in and around the River Wear has been informed that the inspection rates of their facilities will increase fourfold over this financial year. This will put the onus on Northumbrian Water to increase compliance at their sites which discharge into the River Wear.
The government's Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan is driving investment to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows. This includes storm overflows discharging into the River Wear.
Since 2011, the Water and Abandoned Metal Mine programme has delivered a number of small-scale interventions in the Wear catchment to begin to address the approximately 80km of the River Wear and its tributaries that are polluted by lead, cadmium or zinc.
Defra and the EA continue to work with farmers in the River Wear catchment, and across the country, to minimise and prevent agricultural pollution. This includes through advice-led enforcement of farm regulations to bring farmers into compliance, providing significant grant funding to improve infrastructure and adopt new technologies, and paying farmers through Environmental Land Schemes to deliver improved environmental outcomes.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make quaternary water treatment mandatory for sewage plants serving large populations.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra currently has no plans to make it mandatory for sewage plants to implement quaternary water treatment proposals. If changes are deemed necessary, these will be undertaken through usual consultation routes to assess the costs and benefits of making these changes.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 22 June 2023 to Question 188226 on Water Companies, how many (a) cautions, (b) prosecutions and (c) legal instruments the Drinking Water Inspectorate brought against water companies in each year since 2021 by water company.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since 2021, the Drinking Water Inspectorate brought against water companies in each year since 2021,
(a) two cautions, one against Thames (2023) and one against Southern Water (2023),
(b) three prosecutions, against Southern Water (2022) and one against South West and Bournemouth Water (2022) and one against Wessex Water in 2023, and
(c) 362 legal instruments.
These are shown by water company below and comprise drinking water quality Legal Instruments (Notices), Final Enforcement Orders, Regulation 15 Notices for new sources, Radioactivity notices (waivers), Network and Information Systems (NIS) notices, Security and Emergency Direction (SEMD) notices, and notices for Price Review 2024 for water quality, NIS and SEMD. (They include the PR24 schemes that have been served to date which are most of the lead reduction schemes but no PFAS as yet, as the process is ongoing).
Legal instruments | ||||
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 (inc PR24) | |
Affinity Water Ltd | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
Albion Water Ltd | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Albion Water Eco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Anglian Water Services Ltd | 6 | 1 | 2 | 20 |
Bristol Water Plc | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water | 1 | 4 | 6 | 11 |
ESP Water | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Hafren Dyfrdwy | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Icosa Water | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Independent Water Networks Ltd | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Leep Networks (Water) Ltd | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Northumbrian, Essex and Suffolk Water Ltd | 9 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Portsmouth Water Ltd | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
SES Water | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
South East Water Ltd | 6 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
Southern Water Services Ltd | 3 | 4 | 11 | 12 |
South Staffordshire Water and Cambridge Water PLC | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Severn Trent Water Ltd | 7 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
South West and Bournemouth Water Ltd (incl Isles of Scilly) | 15 | 10 | 5 | 13 |
Thames Water Utilities Ltd | 6 | 9 | 8 | 5 |
United Utilities Water PLC | 5 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
Veolia Water Projects Ltd | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Wessex Water Services Ltd | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Yorkshire Water Services Ltd | 1 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
362 | ||||
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when the Royal Botanic Gardens is expected to terminate its contract with Red Snapper Ltd., procurement reference BIP829617988; and whether a notice period will be required under the provisions of that contract.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is an operationally independent arm’s length body (ALB). Civil Service EDI expenditure guidance does not extend to organisations outside the Civil Service or ALBs not employing Civil Servants.
The contract with Red Snapper Ltd is due to expire on 21 February 2025.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will undertake an environmental impact assessment of Southern Waters policy on sewage discharges into (a) Langstone Harbour and (b) the Solent.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Sewage discharges by Southern Water into Langstone Harbour and the Solent are permitted by the Environment Agency. The limits on these permits are informed by environmental impact assessments. If the Environment Agency finds any company breaching the conditions of their permits, they will take action, up to and including prosecution.
The Government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan is driving £60bn between now and 2050 to reduce the use of storm overflows, including those discharging into the Solent and Langstone Harbour.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will undertake an environmental impact assessment of Southern Water’s decision to respond to increased rainfall by improving surface water drainage.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency continues to liaise with Southern Water to implement Pathfinder projects in Whitstable, Margate and Deal, in order to reduce surface water inputs to Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) during heavy rainfall. These catchments are affected by hydraulic overload from groundwater infiltration into sewers, leading to the WWTW becoming overloaded and therefore subject to additional sewage spills to the environment. Measures taken by the Pathfinder project to slow rainfall ingress into groundwater have already led to reductions in spill numbers and works are continuing to reduce total spill numbers further. The Environment Agency also inputs to Drainage and Waste Water Management Plans to ensure future integrated planning is in place.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has provided through the Air Quality Grant in each constituency in (a) each of the last three years and (b) the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information regarding how much funding has been provided through the Air Quality Grant Scheme over the last three years is available on gov.uk (Air quality grant scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). This includes a breakdown of which local authorities have been successful in being awarded a grant.
Decisions regarding the scheme for the financial year 24/25 have not yet been made.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the performance of the Environment Agency in relation to (1) monitoring water quality, and (2) taking appropriate remedial action.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
DEFRA works closely with the Environment Agency to ensure it is equipped to carry out its functions effectively and deliver for the public and the environment.
The EA is accountable to Parliament via the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. As the principal sponsor of EA, DEFRA works closely with EA officials at every level to provide constructive challenge and support on EA performance and delivery.
The EA currently operates a network of monitoring programmes which fulfil different legislative, regulatory and policy needs. These programmes have been designed by technical experts to reflect a diverse range of parameters used to understand water quality, at the scale and frequency the data is required.
In 2023 over 70,000 samples were collected and analysed to understand water quality from a range of programmes. The EA also has continuous monitoring in place for water quality at over 200 sites at any given time.
It is critical that we continue to build and maintain a robust evidence base which strengthens our understanding of the state of the environment, and the pressures and risks impacting it. This allows action to be taken in the right places to improve the environment when needed.