Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that Ofwat and other regulatory agencies enforce compliance with the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra works closely with its arms-length body regulators, including Ofwat and the Environment Agency (EA), to assess performance, review enforcement powers and ensure that regulators are equipped to carry out their functions effectively to deliver for the public and the environment. This includes supporting effective compliance with the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations and broader regulatory framework.

The Water (Special Measures) Act has provided the most significant increase in enforcement powers to the regulators in a decade, giving existing regulators the teeth they need to take tougher action against water companies.

We have since published the Water White Paper, a once-in-a-generation plan to overhaul the water system. This set out set our ambition to create a powerful new water regulator, bringing together the relevant functions from the existing regulators (Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, EA and Natural England) into one new body. This will replace the current fragmented system with one regulator capable of integrated management of the water system.