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Written Question
Water Companies: Debts
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the financial implications for her policies of trends in the level of debt acquired by water companies.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Water companies are allowed to raise debt to fund the delivery of their services.

Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company, including levels of debt, on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed.

Over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken further steps to strengthen the financial resilience of companies. This includes increasing its financial monitoring and improving levels of reporting transparency. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.


Written Question
Water Companies: Standards
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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 take legislative steps to suspend dividend payments to shareholders of water companies found to be in breach of restrictions on the release of sewerage into waterways.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are clear with Ofwat that increases to customer bills must not flow through to company profits, dividends or to executive bonuses where performance is poor.

Using new powers granted to Ofwat by this Government under the Environment Act 2021, Ofwat introduced new powers in May 2023 to ensure dividends are linked to environmental performance and cannot be paid where it would risk the financial resilience of the company.

Government and regulators will continue to work together to hold water companies to account on poor performance and drive improvements that benefit customers and the environment.


Written Question
Sewage: Pollution Control
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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 introduce a legally binding target to reduce sewage discharges by 90% by 2030.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is clear that the amount of sewage discharged into our waters is unacceptable. Through the Government's Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we have set stringent targets for water companies to reduce the use of storm overflows, driving the largest infrastructure programme in water company history of £60 billion over 25 years. These stringent targets will prevent hundreds of thousands of storm overflow discharges every year.

If it is possible to go further and faster while balancing the cost to consumers, we will not hesitate to do so. The Government will review the targets in 2027, so that we stay as ambitious as possible, while balancing the impact on bills.


Written Question
Inland Waterways: Pollution
Friday 9th February 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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 take steps to pause utility prices for water companies that discharge pollutants into waterways.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has been clear that consumer bills should never reward pollution: if water companies do not deliver on their infrastructure commitments, then money is returned to billpayers. For example, in September, Ofwat announced financial penalties for several water companies, totalling £114 million, following underperformance in areas such as water supply interruptions, pollution incidents and customer satisfaction. This money will be rightly returned to customers through reduced water bills in 2024-25.

We want to see a step-change in the water sector, and this will require tough decisions for the long term. New infrastructure will need to be paid for, and while water companies can attract private investment, this will also need to come from customer bills.


Written Question
United Utilities
Wednesday 7th February 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with United Utilities on bill prices.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Secretary of State has regular meetings with stakeholders, including with water companies.

Government is working closely with both Ofwat and the Environment Agency to ensure all water companies, including United Utilities, can meet their targets for environmental improvements, without unduly impacting customers’ bills in the next price review cycle.


Written Question
Fly-tipping: Fixed Penalties
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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 take steps to increase the penalties for people who are successfully prosecuted for fly tipping.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

While the law already allows for an unlimited fine and/or imprisonment, sentencing is a matter for the independent courts. Together with the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group, we have produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court to support sentences that properly reflect the severity of fly tipping. This is available at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group. Our recent fly-tipping statistics for 2022/23 showed that the average court fine increased by over 10%.

We will continue to explore other options, such as increasing magistrates’ awareness of the impact of fly-tipping.


Written Question
Fly-tipping
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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 help increase prosecutions for fly tipping.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In partnership with the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, which includes local authorities and the police, we have produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court to support sentences that properly reflect the severity of fly-tipping. This guide is available at National Fly-tipping Prevention Group | Keep Britain Tidy

Through the Prime Minister’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, we are also encouraging councils to increase enforcement activity against fly-tippers. Our fly-tipping intervention grants have also seen nearly £1.2m awarded across more than 30 councils to help purchase equipment to tackle fly-tipping. Many of the projects are using the funds to install CCTV which can be used help catch perpetrators. Another round of grants for tackling fly-tipping are to be awarded in the spring.


Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes: Recycling
Wednesday 20th December 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to encourage the use of refillable rather than disposable vapes.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

On 12 October 2023 the Government launched a consultation on smoking and youth vaping, which has now closed. As part of this consultation, we are considering restrictions on the sale and supply of disposable vape products (including non-nicotine vapes) due to the environmental impacts of disposable vapes. We are currently analysing responses to this consultation and are working with the Department of Health and Social Care to publish a Government response in due course.


Written Question
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership: Pesticides
Tuesday 14th November 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department had with the Department for Business and Trade during the negotiation of accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership; and what assessment her Department has made of the (a) implications for her policies and (b) potential impact on exports of differing standards of pesticide use in states party to that Agreement.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Department for Business and Trade (DBT) officials worked closely together to deliver the successful negotiation of the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The Impact Assessment relating to the UK’s accession to the CPTPP agreement is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cptpp-impact-assessment. It sets out the Government’s assessment of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the agreement.

The independent Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) will also produce a report by 30 November on whether the UK’s accession to the CPTPP agreement is consistent with the maintenance of statutory protections in relation to animal and plant health and life, animal welfare and the environment. Informed by the TAC’s conclusions and advice from the Food Standard Agency and Food Standards Scotland, the Government will then lay its own report under section 42 of the Agriculture Act 2020.

Finally, the Hon. Member asks about the potential impact on exports to the UK of differing standards of pesticide use in states party to the CPTPP Agreement. The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare. Decisions on these standards will remain a matter for the UK and will be made separately from any trade agreements.  Nothing in the CPTPP agreement creates new permissions for imports. All agri-food products must comply with the UK’s import requirements in order to be placed on the UK market.


Written Question
Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

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 Prime Minister's authored article entitled What the PM’s new approach to Net Zero means for you, published 20 September 2023, whether he had held discussions with Cabinet colleagues on potential proposals for each household to receive seven bins for domestic waste; and whether he planned to introduce legislative proposals to implement such a policy before 20 September 2023.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.

The Environment Act as it stands would require local authorities to collect six recyclable waste streams (glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste and garden waste) separately from residual (non-recyclable) waste, and separately from each other unless there was a technical, economic or environmental exception to allow waste streams to be collected together. In practice this could sometimes lead to a situation where households would need to sort their waste into multiple different containers.

The new Simpler Recycling policy, which will shortly be announced, will ensure that local authorities retain the flexibility to collect the recyclable waste streams in the most appropriate way for their residents.