Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 hold discussions with Thames Water on the adequacy of the time it takes to stop sewage overflows.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
My officials and I have regular conversations with Thames Water and other water companies to discuss a range of activities, including the reduction of sewage discharges. I am also meeting with the boards of all water companies, including Thames Water, to set out the government’s expectation of improved performance across all metrics.
Cleaning up England’s rivers, lakes and seas is a priority for the government. The government has taken immediate and substantial action to address the performance of water companies who are not delivering for the environment or their customers.
That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Act. This will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.
Furthermore, as part of Ofwat’s Price Review 2024 settlement, Thames Water will undertake a significant investment programme to improve the environment over the 2025-30 period. These investments include: £784 million to reduce the use of storm overflows and £1.2 billion to prevent nutrient pollution. Ofwat expects the reduction of the use of storm overflows by at least 29% by 2029-30, down to an average of 14.2 spills per overflow.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 ensure that pubs are not charged twice for recycling glass bottles under Extended Producer Responsibility rules.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) obligates brands and packaging producers to pay the costs of managing household packaging waste. In most cases, this will not be individual pubs but the business supplying the pub with packaged goods. It is up to individual producers whether to pass these costs on to their customers. The pEPR fees are intended to incentivise producers to use less packaging and to ensure the packaging they do use is environmentally sustainable. For example, where producers use reusable packaging, they will only pay a pEPR fee the first time it is used. Reuse will therefore provide a significant decrease in fees and customers, such as pubs, will see a decrease in waste management costs.
Industry is already making progress in this area, the British Beer and Pub Association and ABInbev recently hosted a well-attended glass bottle reuse workshop where UK glass reuse trials were showcased. This included a Greene King trial which started with 25 pubs last year and which will soon be expanded to several hundred pubs, and the multi-retailer glass reuse trial that is due to start in Newport later this year.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 Thames Water on the use of their emergency loan.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government and Ofwat – the financial regulator for the water sector – are carefully monitoring the situation, and Ofwat is working closely with the company to strengthen their long-term financial resilience within the context of its license and broader statutory obligations.
Fundamentally it is for the company to solve their issues of financial resilience. It is not for the Government to tell a private company how to manage their finances.
It would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings. We prepare for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries – including water – like any responsible Government would.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 potential implications for his policies of environmental contamination caused by sewage discharges by water companies in Epsom and Ewell constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.
That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Act. The Act will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.
To further support understanding of the impact that sewage discharges have on the receiving watercourse, a programme to rollout Continuous Water Quality Monitors is beginning in Price Review period (PR24), which runs from 2025-2030. Monitors will be installed near 25% of storm overflows and sewage treatment works in scope for the programme in this period. Sites prioritised for monitoring will be based on Defra’s priority areas.
During PR24, Thames Water will invest £784 million to reduce the use of storm overflows, including in the Epsom and Ewell constituency. Additional improvement actions also include increasing treatment capacity at sewage works, providing storage for high flows, reducing flows entering the system and provision of treatment for storm overflows which are separate from the main treatment route.
There are no sewage treatment works in the Epsom and Ewell constituency.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 put a contingency plan in place in the event that Thames Water becomes financially unsustainable.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government and Ofwat – the financial regulator for the water sector – are carefully monitoring the situation with Thames Water, and Ofwat continues to engage with Thames Water to support it in improving its resilience within the context of its licence and broader statutory obligations.
The company remains stable. However, we do want to provide reassurance that we are prepared for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries – including water – as any responsible Government should be.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 impact of flooding on (a) football pitches and (b) other local community assets; and if he will ensure that water companies compensate community organisations for damage caused.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, a record £2.65 billion will be invested over two years in better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026.
Lead local flood authorities (unitary and county authorities) are required to manage local flood risks from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. Local flood risks should be identified and managed as part of a local flood risk management strategy. In managing these risks, the lead local flood authority will work closely with other risk management authorities. This includes water companies, which have a duty to maintain their sewers, under Section 94 of the Water Industry Act 1991, to ensure their areas are effectually drained.
To improve understanding of current and future floor risk from rivers, the sea and surface water in England the Environment Agency has just published its new National Flood Risk Assessment. This data is available to everyone, improving individuals’ understanding of their local flood risk.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 is taking to tackle underperforming wastewater treatment plants.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has taken immediate and substantial action to address the performance of water companies who are not delivering for the environment or their customers.
The Water (Special Measures) Bill will provide the most significant increase in enforcement powers for the regulators in a decade, giving them the teeth they need to take tougher action against water companies in the next investment period. The Bill will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.
Separately, the regulators have also launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company sewage discharges ever They will take action if any illegality is identified. As part of their investigation, Ofwat has proposed fines of £168 million against the first three companies. This investigation is a priority for Ofwat, and it will continue to work as quickly as possible on all remaining companies.
Additionally, through the next investment period, which runs from 2025 – 2030, there will be improvements at wastewater treatment works protecting rivers across England and Wales.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Thames Water on its financial viability.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since July the Defra Secretary of State has met with water company Chief Executives and chairs, including Thames Water.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 water companies on upgrading infrastructure to ensure the sewage system can accommodate heavy rainfall without overflowing sewage into waterways.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For too long, water companies have discharged record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which will strengthen regulation, including delivering new powers to ban the payment of bonuses for polluting water bosses and bringing criminal charges against persistent law breakers.
For Price Review 2024, which runs from 2025 – 2030, water companies are investing almost £12 billion to improve 2,800 storm overflows across England and Wales. Where required outcomes are not met, companies must reimburse customers, thereby holding water companies to account to deliver the investment.
Going forward, the Secretary of State and I continue to meet regularly with water company leadership teams to hold them to account for and ensure they are delivering for customers and the environment.
In October 2024, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Welsh Government, also launched an Independent Commission on the water sector regulatory system. This is a wide-ranging review to fundamentally transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 is taking to make healthy food options affordable to low-income families.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to nutritious, affordable food. The Government’s recently launched Food Strategy will ensure that access to healthy food is affordable and accessible to all.
The Government has also committed to roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, whilst also tripling investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million. Additionally, this Government has committed to delivering its plan to make work pay to turn the minimum wage into a real living wage so that working families can afford healthy food
Defra regularly engages with supermarkets and producers about a range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. These measures include maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing. The range and price of food is a commercial decision for each retailer and the Government does not interfere in their day-to-day operations.
This Government will also be introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increasing the National Living Wage, boosting the pay of 3 million workers, ensuring that everyone can afford to make healthy food choices.