To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Plants: Import Controls
Wednesday 1st May 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 make an assessment of the potential merits of continuing Place of Destination checks for plants at Border Control Posts until January 2025.

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

The Place of Destination scheme will not be carried forward beyond 30 April 2024. It was only ever intended to be a temporary solution, and moving controls to BCPs and Control Points is vital to achieving the biosecurity aims of the BTOM, by increasing the percentage of consignments we are able to inspect.


Written Question
Water: Meters
Thursday 25th April 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 make it his policy to allow water customers to have a meter removed from their property.

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

The Government has committed to a 20% reduction in water demand by 2038 and halving leakage by 2050. Metering is central to identifying and reducing leakage and enabling better value for money for the consumer. The Government set out that water companies in areas of ‘water stress’ can compulsorily meter, following evidence it provides value for money and has customer support in their resource planning. Where this is the case, a customer may not be able to switch back to unmeasured charges. Other water companies do offer the opportunity for customers to switch back to an unmeasured charge following meter installation. All water companies offer social tariffs as part of affordability packages for consumers who may be struggling to pay their water bills.


Written Question
Thames Water
Tuesday 23rd April 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 plans to take to help ensure that Thames Water continues to (a) operate, (b) provide services and (c) keep bills low for customers.

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

Customers will not experience any change or disruption to their water supply or wastewater services as a consequence of the financial position of their water company. There are long standing processes in place whereby the regulator must approve individual companies’ investment plans to ensure they deliver on their requirements in an efficient way.


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.