Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2024 to Question 9485 on Water Companies: Climate Change, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the adequacy of how Ofwat is carrying out this statutory duty.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As an independent regulator, Ofwat carries out its statutory duties autonomously from the Government and instead is directly accountable to Parliament. The department therefore does not routinely monitor or assess how Ofwat carries out its duties.
An Independent Commission into the water sector regulatory system was launched by the UK and Welsh Governments on Wednesday 23 October. Through this review, we will look at long-term, wider reform of the water sector as a whole. This includes considering and clarifying the roles of regulators, as well as how to ensure water company infrastructure is secure and resilient to short- and long-term pressures.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of requiring Ofwat to monitor climate adaptation and mitigation requirements for water companies.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under section 2 of The Water Industry Act 1991, Ofwat must carry out their statutory duties to further their resilience objectives: to secure the long-term resilience of water companies’ water supply and wastewater systems; and to secure that they take steps to enable them, in the long-term, to meet the need for water supplies and wastewater services.
Published on 11 July, Ofwat’s draft determinations on water company investment from 2025-30 included a total expenditure of £88bn across the sector, including £6bn for climate adaptation measures such as securing water supplies, progressing 9 new reservoirs and developing 7 large-scale water transfer schemes.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich 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 have discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the potential merits of requiring companies building data centres to invest in (a) building and (b) maintaining water supply infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is implementing a Water Demand Target to reduce the use of public water supply by 20% by 2037/38. As part of this, Defra is working with the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Environment Agency (EA) to determine how we can improve water efficiency and demand in data centres.
Defra also works closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department for Business and Trade and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on plans to support the economic opportunities data centres bring, whilst making sure these developments are sustainable for local water supplies. The department will also continue to work with Ofwat to identify ways in which we can reduce overall water demand and achieve a secure supply of water for customers and the environment.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of the potential impact of data processing by data centres on water usage.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is implementing a Water Demand Target to reduce the use of public water supply by 20% by 2037/38. As part of this, Defra is working with the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Environment Agency (EA) to determine how we can improve water efficiency and demand in data centres.
Defra also works closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department for Business and Trade and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on plans to support the economic opportunities data centres bring, whilst making sure these developments are sustainable for local water supplies. The department will also continue to work with Ofwat to identify ways in which we can reduce overall water demand and achieve a secure supply of water for customers and the environment.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with Ofwat on increased demand on water supply by data centres.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is implementing a Water Demand Target to reduce the use of public water supply by 20% by 2037/38. As part of this, Defra is working with the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Environment Agency (EA) to determine how we can improve water efficiency and demand in data centres.
Defra also works closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department for Business and Trade and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on plans to support the economic opportunities data centres bring, whilst making sure these developments are sustainable for local water supplies. The department will also continue to work with Ofwat to identify ways in which we can reduce overall water demand and achieve a secure supply of water for customers and the environment.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to monitor the water usage of data centres.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is implementing a Water Demand Target to reduce the use of public water supply by 20% by 2037/38. As part of this, Defra is working with the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Environment Agency (EA) to determine how we can improve water efficiency and demand in data centres.
Defra also works closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department for Business and Trade and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on plans to support the economic opportunities data centres bring, whilst making sure these developments are sustainable for local water supplies. The department will also continue to work with Ofwat to identify ways in which we can reduce overall water demand and achieve a secure supply of water for customers and the environment.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich 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 publish a timeline for the review of the water sector announced on 12 September 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will be carrying out a review to fundamentally transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good. We will provide further details in due course.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich 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 publish a timeline to bring forward legislative measures to end trail hunting.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter with regard to Scotland and NI; hunting with dogs is a reserved matter with respect to Wales and therefore, the information provided relates to England and Wales.
The Government is committed to enacting a ban on Trail Hunting, and work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the new customer panels to hold water companies to account will be selected; and what powers these panels will have.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This government expects companies to provide high levels of service, both for customers and the environment and believes that customers should be at heart of challenging companies on their performance, which is why we have immediately announced that powerful new customer panels will be established. These panels will have the remit to do things like summon members of the executive and hold them to account.
Further detail will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor Ofwat's (a) monitoring and (b) enforcement of the ring-fencing of funds for vital infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
After writing to Ofwat, the Secretary of State has secured agreement that funding for vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. Ofwat will also ensure that when money for investment is not spent, companies refund customers, with money never allowed to be diverted for bonuses, dividends or salary increases.
As part of PR24, Ofwat have introduced increased consumer protections through Price Control Deliverables which act to pull back funding from companies when they fail to deliver, helping to ensure customers are protected and money is returned if outputs are not being met.
Ofwat propose to require companies to report on progress against their price control deliverable outputs on a six-monthly basis and forecast performance for the 2025-2030 period. Where Ofwat consider a company is sufficiently off-track, they will consider what additional steps that they should take.