Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 1 June 2023 to Question 186323 on Water: Standards, how many discoloration events were recorded by the Drinking Water Inspectorate in each of the last five years, broken down by each water company.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Total discolouration events for the period 2017-2021 subdivided by company are as follows:
2017 |
| 2018 |
| 2019 |
| 2020 |
| 2021 | ||||||
Affinity Water Ltd | 3 |
| Affinity Water Ltd | 1 |
| Anglian Water Services Ltd | 4 |
| Anglian Water Services Ltd | 5 |
| Anglian Water Services Ltd | 5 | |
Anglian Water Services Ltd | 9 |
| Anglian Water Services Ltd | 3 |
| Bristol Water Plc | 3 |
| Bristol Water plc | 4 |
| Bristol Water plc | 5 | |
Northumbrian Essex and Suffolk Water | 9 |
| Bristol Water plc | 2 |
| Cambridge Water Company Plc | 1 |
| Northumbrian Essex and Suffolk Water | 6 |
| Northumbrian Essex and Suffolk Water | 7 | |
South East Water | 12 |
| Northumbrian Essex and Suffolk Water | 4 |
| Northumbrian Essex and Suffolk Water | 3 |
| SES Water | 1 |
| SES Water | 1 | |
Southern Water Services Ltd | 7 |
| South East Water | 8 |
| South East Water | 4 |
| South East Water | 10 |
| South East Water | 6 | |
South Staffordshire Water Plc | 4 |
| Southern Water Services Ltd | 8 |
| Southern Water Services Ltd | 3 |
| Southern Water Services Ltd | 8 |
| Southern Water Services Ltd | 5 | |
Severn Trent Water Ltd | 24 |
| South Staffordshire Water Plc | 5 |
| South Staffordshire Water Plc | 3 |
| South Staffordshire Water Plc | 3 |
| South Staffordshire Water Plc | 1 | |
South West and Bournemouth Water | 11 |
| Severn Trent Water Ltd | 26 |
| Severn Trent Water Ltd | 22 |
| Severn Trent Water Ltd | 17 |
| Severn Trent Water Ltd | 9 | |
Thames Water Utilities Ltd | 5 |
| South West and Bournemouth Water | 12 |
| South West and Bournemouth Water | 10 |
| South West and Bournemouth Water | 8 |
| South West and Bournemouth Water | 12 | |
United Utilities Water Plc | 13 |
| Thames Water Utilities Ltd | 4 |
| Thames Water Utilities Ltd | 2 |
| Thames Water Utilities Ltd | 3 |
| Thames Water Utilities Ltd | 6 | |
Wessex Water Services Ltd | 9 |
| United Utilities Water Plc | 5 |
| United Utilities Water Plc | 9 |
| United Utilities Water Plc | 19 |
| United Utilities Water Plc | 19 | |
Yorkshire Water Services Ltd | 12 |
| Wessex Water Services Ltd | 3 |
| Wessex Water Services Ltd | 3 |
| Wessex Water Services Ltd | 3 |
| YKS | 10 | |
|
|
| Yorkshire Water Services Ltd | 13 |
| Yorkshire Water Services Ltd | 8 |
| Yorkshire Water Services Ltd | 7 |
|
|
| |
Total | 118 |
|
| 94 |
|
| 75 |
|
| 94 |
|
| 86 | |
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions she has met the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare to discuss competition in the period since her appointment; when those meetings took place; and what was discussed at each meeting.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has not met with the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare to discuss competition since her appointment.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the oral statement of 25 May by the Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries, Official Report, column 495, what measures from the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill his Department will take forward as single-issue legislation during the remainder of this Parliament.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will be taking forward measures in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill individually through other means during the remainder of this Parliament. These measures include three manifesto commitments, which we remain fully committed to delivering. These will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding from the public purse the Drinking Water Inspectorate has received in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) is an autonomous specialist unit within Defra’s Floods and Water Directorate whose purpose is to regulate the quality of public drinking water supplied to consumers in England and Wales. The DWI raises the majority of its operational funding from a levy on water companies in accordance with the Water Quality and Supply (Fees) Order 2016 to deliver its regulatory functions. The amount of income from Defra funding is specifically for activities not accommodated by the Fees Order. The table below summarises the overall operating income of the DWI with a subset of Defra’s contributory funding in each financial year from 2016/17 through to 2021/22.
Year | DWI income £m | Defra allocation to DWI £m |
2016/17 | 2.94 | 0.383 |
2017/18 | 3.12 | 0.084 |
2018/19 | 3.38 | 0.084 |
2019/20 | 3.17 | 0.183 |
2020/21 | 5.08 | 0.133 |
2021/22 | 4.45 | 0.133 |
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of how much was spent by water companies on removing (a) pesticides and (b) nitrates from drinking water supplies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ongoing general expenditure information for pesticide and nitrate removal is not collated or held on an annual basis by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many employees of (a) the Environment Agency, (b) Ofwat and (c) the Drinking Water Inspectorate previously worked for water companies.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many samples taken by the Drinking Water Inspectorate did not meet regulatory standards 100 per cent of the time in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Drinking Water Inspectorate does not itself take routine samples. The water companies carry out a statutory sampling programme including randomly selected consumer taps and send all the results to the Inspectorate in a monthly return. The Inspectorate assesses compliance with the sampling programme and breaches of the regulatory standards for parameters. The annual breakdown of this total is as follows:
Number of compliance failures | |||||
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Total | 1563 | 1479 | 1508 | 1275 | 1230 |
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many discoloration events were recorded by the Drinking Water Inspectorate in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
During the period 2017 to 2021 the DWI was notified of a total of 499 discolouration events by water companies in England and Wales. The annual breakdown of this total is as follows:
Number of discolouration events | ||||||
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Total |
Total | 127 | 109 | 93 | 76 | 94 | 499 |
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many water company (a) cautions, (b) prosecutions and (c) minded to enforce notices were brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The following tables summarise cautions and prosecutions for the period 2017 to 2021.
a) Number of cautions 2017-2021
Number of cautions | |||||
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Total | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
b) Number of prosecutions 2017-2021*
Number of prosecutions | |||||
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Total | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
* Due to the COVID pandemic the Courts were closed and there have been subsequent backlogs. Prosecutions recommenced in 2022 (two companies were prosecuted during the period) and we have ongoing prosecutions in 2023.
There is no ‘minded to enforce notice’ as stated in the question. The Drinking Water Inspectorate issues minded to enforce letters that are communications to companies and they are not notices. They form part of the enforcement process that may or may not result in a legal instrument notice. We have therefore collated the number of legal instruments we have issued to water companies in the period 2017 to 2021.
c) Legal instruments
Legal instruments | |||||
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Total | 95 | 71 | 36 | 53 | 69 |
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many investigations were conducted by the Drinking Water Inspectorate into potential contaminated water supplies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The DWI conducts investigations to an appropriate degree for each drinking water quality event notified by water companies. For the period 2017 to 2021 there were a total of 2465 events in England and Wales investigated by the DWI. The annual breakdown of this total is as follows:
Events in England and Wales | ||||||
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Total |
Total | 503 | 532 | 546 | 417 | 467 | 2465 |