Water Companies: Licences

Debate between Baroness Merron and Lord Benyon

Monday 24th April 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

We have set out dates by which we will expect to see different levels of improvement. We are requiring water companies to spend £56 billion, and most of that is being front-loaded. The date of 2030 is the first by which my noble friend will be able to see how successful we have been at that front-loading. On rivers such as the Wye, it is not just the water companies but farming that is the problem—a particular type of farming. We have had this debate many times, and action is being taken through the Environment Agency and grants that we are now offering through our environmental land management schemes to correct some of the issues that have gone wrong. We also need to look at planning, which has been part of the problem.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister has previously said that the Government are looking at a proposal from the Environment Agency that directors of water companies that fail to improve and continue to pollute our watercourses should face a prison sentence. Can he update us on what progress is being made?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

These are issues that require us to work across government, such as sentencing, but where a crime has been committed and it can be proved that an individual in a senior position in a company has directed that company to operate in an illegal manner, that is a criminal act and therefore sanctions should reflect that.