Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Reed and Jeremy Hunt

Thursday 20th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt (Godalming and Ash) (Con)]

2. What recent discussions he has had with Ofwat on encouraging water companies to increase investment in sewage discharge reduction measures.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Steve Reed)]

My officials and I have regular conversations with Ofwat and other regulators. As the right hon. Gentleman will be aware, last year water companies discharged record levels of sewage into our waterways, which is why the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 gives the regulator tough new powers, including the ability to ban the payment of unfair bonuses to polluting water bosses. The Government have also secured a record £104 billion that will include improvements to more than 3,000 storm overflows and significantly reduce sewage spills over the next five years.

[Jeremy Hunt]

I wish you a happy World Sparrow Day, Madam Deputy Speaker.

In Bramley in my constituency in 2023, sewage was spilled into the local river for 59 hours. In Godalming, the figure was 83 hours; in Chiddingfold, it was 410 hours; and in Cranleigh, it was 691 hours. That is the equivalent of nearly two hours every single day—it is totally unacceptable. As a result, last year, after pressure from me and others, Thames Water agreed to invest £400 million by the end of next year. Will the Secretary of State meet me and the chief executive of Thames Water to see whether that money is actually being spent?

[Steve Reed]

The situation that the right hon. Gentleman describes is absolutely outrageous, and Members across the House will recognise similar situations in their own areas. We need to completely reset the water sector so that these situations cannot continue, which is why Sir Jon Cunliffe is leading a water commission. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman and other Members are taking the opportunity to feed their experiences and those of their constituents into his call for evidence, and I would be happy to arrange for the right hon. Gentleman to meet an appropriate Minister to discuss his concerns.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Reed and Jeremy Hunt

Thursday 6th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt (Godalming and Ash) (Con)]

Given that the Office for Budget Responsibility refused to endorse the £22 billion black hole figure—in fact, it refused to say that there was any black hole at all—will the Secretary of State tell the House what possible justification there can be for the removal of agricultural property relief, which will do untold damage to the growth prospects of family farms in my constituency and across the country?

[Steve Reed]

The right hon. Member is fully aware of the appalling state the public finances were left in at the end of his Government. This Government have had to take very difficult decisions to balance the finances so we can get growth that will benefit the entire economy, including the farming sector, which was on its knees after 14 years of Conservative rule.

A and E (Major Incidents)

Debate between Steve Reed and Jeremy Hunt

Wednesday 7th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I take huge interest in individual examples of where things have gone wrong, and that has informed a lot of my approach to the job. Just like A and E departments, when ambulance services get calls, they have to triage them and deal with the highest-priority calls quickest. The calls they get can sometimes be dealt with after a period of hours, but other calls are much more urgent. The important thing for ambulance services is to know that we are backing them with more paramedics, more investment and more ambulances, and that is what we are doing.

[Mr Steve Reed (Croydon North) (Lab)]

One of my constituents, an 80-year-old woman, collapsed at home over the weekend. She had to wait an hour for an ambulance to arrive, and she then waited 10 hours in A and E before being treated by medical staff. For most of that time she was on a trolley in a corridor. Will the Secretary of State apologise to my constituent? Does he not regret wasting billions of pounds on a top-down reorganisation of the health service, instead of using the money to fund the additional doctors and nurses who could have treated my constituent and thousands of others like her across the country more quickly?

[Mr Hunt]

Management costs in the NHS doubled under the hon. Gentleman’s Government; under this Government, they have been cut by £1 billion a year, which is paying for 9,000 more doctors and 3,000 more nurses. That is the reality of the NHS under this Government—1 million more people are getting operations every year—and if he really believed in the NHS, he would support and welcome that, rather than criticise it.