David Taylor

The Secretary of State recently met with water company bosses, including Thames Water, to make it clear that water firms will be held accountable for their performance for customers and the environment. Furthermore, 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.

The Government also announced a new Water (Special Measures) Bill, which will turn around the performance of water companies, in the King’s Speech. The Bill will strengthen regulation, give the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met and increase accountability for water executives. These are the first critical steps in enabling a long-term and transformative reset of the entire water sector.

I would also refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Secretary of State on 18 July, HCWS3.

The Environment Agency will publish the 2024 Event Duration Monitoring data, showing how long and how often storm overflows have been used, in March 2025. The data for previous years is available here.

No specific assessment has been made. The appropriate provision and configuration of local services to best meet the needs of the local population and patients is a matter for National Health Service commissioners to consider.

The Government has been clear that NHS services are currently not meeting the high standards that patients should expect, and is committed to supporting the NHS to return to the standards set out in the NHS Constitution.

As a first step, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has appointed the Professor Lord Darzi to lead an independent investigation of NHS performance, which will report in September 2024.

The growth of asylum accommodation spending has led to difficult cuts to other UK aid programmes. This Government is committed to rebuilding Britain’s reputation on international development. The Home Secretary is committed to bringing order to the asylum system and has taken steps to unblock the backlog of claims, which will help reduce costs.

The Government will update the House in due course on the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending, including ODA-eligible spending to support asylum seekers and refugees within the UK.