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Iqbal Mohamed
Main Page: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)Department Debates - View all Iqbal Mohamed's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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Iqbal Mohamed Excerpts(1 week, 4 days ago)
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Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)
In Dewsbury and Batley, Yorkshire Water has dumped sewage for more than 1,597 hours so far this year, exceeding the confirmed total sewage pollution for 2025. Yet the Environment Agency has not completed any prosecutions against water companies for sewage dumping committed in the past five years. What exactly in this system constitutes effective enforcement and accountability, and what are this Government doing right now to strengthen it?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Hardy)
The answer is a huge amount. The EA has carried out over 10,000 inspections of water company sites in 2025-26, compared with the 4,000 before Labour came to power, and we have provided a record £189 million to fund hundreds of enforcement officers, because this Government are actually taking action on this issue.