Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department provides guidance to Ofwat on approving water bill increases where companies have ongoing records of sewage discharges and environmental breaches.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat determines the price, investment, and service package that customers receive, through the Price Review mechanism. Price Reviews take place every five years, with the most recent one (PR24) covering the period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030. Ofwat's decisions determine the amount of revenue which each company can receive from customers (households and businesses). The actual charges to customers are decided by companies, following charging rules which Ofwat sets.
Companies have a range of performance targets covering areas such as customer service, water supply standards, and environmental performance. Where companies do not meet the targets the amount they can take from customers for the following year is reduced to reflect that performance.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what enforcement action has been taken against water companies for sewage discharges in the last 12 months; and what penalties have been imposed.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Between 1 June 2025 and 2 June 2026, the Environment Agency took 254 enforcement actions against water and sewerage companies for water quality incidents. This included 3 prosecutions resulting in fines totalling £1,622,333, and 19 enforcement undertakings worth £8,148,000, alongside other regulatory actions.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of current food labelling regulations.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK aims to maintain high standards on the information that is provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. All food sold on the UK market must comply with food labelling rules and the information provided to the consumer must not mislead.
As negotiations are ongoing with the EU on an SPS agreement, Defra is working with the Food Standards Agency in Wales and Food Standards Scotland to assess any changes necessary and will continue to focus on upholding our existing high food standards, protecting consumers, supporting businesses and consumer choice.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of SEND reform proposals on the availability of ECHPs for children whose difficulties are (a) high-masking and (b) not immediately visible.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Our reformed system will focus on earlier, more accurate identification of need, ensuring children and young people receive the right support at the earliest possible point without relying on diagnosis. The National Inclusion Standards will include whole school, universal approaches, as well as tools and approaches to identify and respond to needs through the targeted/targeted plus layers of support. These new Standards will support teachers to notice and identify where children or young people may be experiencing barriers to their learning, and suggest evidence-based approaches to support them.
Experts at Hand will also provide expert advice direct into settings to support staff to identify needs, without the need for bureaucratic hurdles.
The proposal is for Individual Support Plans (ISPs) to provide a record of need and provision for any child or young person receiving targeted, targeted plus or specialist support in school or college developed with children and parents/carers.
We have carefully assessed the impact of all our proposals and this is included in our published SEND reform: equalities impact assessment and SEND reform: child’s rights impact assessment.
Under our proposed reforms, Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will continue to exist, guaranteeing statutory entitlements to education and health provision, with content agreed in consultation with young people and parents. Children and young people will be eligible for an EHC plan in the reformed system, if they need the support set out in a specialist provision package which will provide comprehensive, evidence-based support.
After a 12 week consultation period including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the consultation has now closed and we are carefully considering responses.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of moving SEND children onto Individual Support Plans on legal rights, risk to harm and recognisability of hidden disability.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Our reformed system will focus on earlier, more accurate identification of need, ensuring children and young people receive the right support at the earliest possible point without relying on diagnosis. The National Inclusion Standards will include whole school, universal approaches, as well as tools and approaches to identify and respond to needs through the targeted/targeted plus layers of support. These new Standards will support teachers to notice and identify where children or young people may be experiencing barriers to their learning, and suggest evidence-based approaches to support them.
Experts at Hand will also provide expert advice direct into settings to support staff to identify needs, without the need for bureaucratic hurdles.
The proposal is for Individual Support Plans (ISPs) to provide a record of need and provision for any child or young person receiving targeted, targeted plus or specialist support in school or college developed with children and parents/carers.
We have carefully assessed the impact of all our proposals and this is included in our published SEND reform: equalities impact assessment and SEND reform: child’s rights impact assessment.
Under our proposed reforms, Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will continue to exist, guaranteeing statutory entitlements to education and health provision, with content agreed in consultation with young people and parents. Children and young people will be eligible for an EHC plan in the reformed system, if they need the support set out in a specialist provision package which will provide comprehensive, evidence-based support.
After a 12 week consultation period including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the consultation has now closed and we are carefully considering responses.