Independent Water Commission

Debate between Steve Reed and Alison Hume

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

The hon. Lady is right: transparency is always very important. I believe that data is available and am happy to write to direct her to it so she can share the information with her constituents.

[Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)]

For far too long families in Scarborough and Whitby have been paying the price of failure. Yorkshire Water was recently forced to pay out £40 million due to serious failings yet a few days later customers’ bills rose by almost a third. Will my right hon. Friend say a little more to reassure my constituents that a national social tariff is now on the cards for those on low incomes?

[Steve Reed]

We always want to support those on lower incomes and those who may be experiencing water poverty; nobody should be worried about their water bill because their income is too low. Social tariffs already exist in every region. We will be consulting on the proposal for a national social tariff, which the Independent Water Commission has proposed in its final report.

Sewage

Debate between Steve Reed and Alison Hume

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am angry about the bill rises, as she is. I am sure that Members on both sides of the House are angry about them, but in a very real sense, people are being forced to pay the price for 14 years of Conservative failure.

Previous Governments let the sewage scandal spread; this Government will end it once and for all. That work began as soon as we came into office. Within one week of the general election, I invited the water company chief executives into my office, and I ringfenced money earmarked for investment in water infrastructure so that it can never again be diverted for the payment of bonuses or dividends.

[Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)]

I welcome the rapid action that this Government have taken to hold failing water companies to account. Does the Secretary of State share my view that it is simply disgraceful that water company CEOs such as Yorkshire Water’s Nicola Shaw—who paid herself a £371,000 bonus —were able to pay themselves multimillion-pound bonuses while overseeing record levels of sewage spills?

[Steve Reed]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, which is why we have given the regulator new powers through the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025. The Conservative party could have done so at any point during its 14 years in power, but at no point did it take that common-sense action. We passed that landmark piece of legislation, which became law in February. It gives the regulator tough new powers to hold water companies to account, bans unfair bonuses when water company bosses fail to meet high standards, and imposes stricter penalties—including up to two years in prison—if water company employees obstruct investigations by environmental regulators, as well as severe and automatic fines for wrongdoing. Environmental regulators can now recover costs for successful enforcement, meaning that the polluter pays and the regulators gain new resources to enforce more effectively.