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 he has made of the potential impact of water companies’ environmental and service performance on water bills.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat’s outcome delivery incentives (ODIs) ensure that, where performance commitments are not met, companies must reimburse customers through lower water bills (known as ‘underperformance payments’) in the next financial year. As a result, for the draft determination of ODI payments for 2024-25, Ofwat has instructed companies to return over £260m to customers. This will be returned through bill adjustments.
Government is also taking forward a programme of reform to ensure that the water system better delivers outcomes for customers in a way that is efficient, fair and affordable.
We are working with industry to keep support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers are supported. This includes strengthening support for vulnerable households through reforms to WaterSure, the statutory affordability scheme for low‑income households with high essential water use. We also expect water companies to ensure customers know what support schemes are available and how to access them as needed.
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 she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the scientific evidence on the welfare impacts of routine tail docking and castration in lambs.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government considered the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the Implications of Castration and Tail Docking for the Welfare of Lambs including the scientific evidence prior to issuing a UK-wide consultation on proposals to improve the welfare of lambs earlier this year. Consultation proposals included seeking views on the use of pain relief and those circumstances when castration or tail docking should only be carried out by a veterinary surgeon. We are currently analysing consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.
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 consideration her Department has given to the potential merits of requiring the use of effective pain relief when tail docking or castration is carried out on lambs.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government considered the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the Implications of Castration and Tail Docking for the Welfare of Lambs including the scientific evidence prior to issuing a UK-wide consultation on proposals to improve the welfare of lambs earlier this year. Consultation proposals included seeking views on the use of pain relief and those circumstances when castration or tail docking should only be carried out by a veterinary surgeon. We are currently analysing consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.
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 she plans to restrict the routine use of tail docking and castration in lambs to exceptional circumstances under veterinary supervision.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government considered the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the Implications of Castration and Tail Docking for the Welfare of Lambs including the scientific evidence prior to issuing a UK-wide consultation on proposals to improve the welfare of lambs earlier this year. Consultation proposals included seeking views on the use of pain relief and those circumstances when castration or tail docking should only be carried out by a veterinary surgeon. We are currently analysing consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.
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 - Minister of State (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 - Minister of State (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 - Secretary of State 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 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce sewage overflows into rivers and lakes; and whether a timeline has been set for achieving a significant reduction.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is clear that water companies must take action to address storm overflow spills and are pleased that water companies are delivering a record amount of investment in Price Review 2024.
To deliver on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we are expecting £60bn of investment to be delivered across England by 2050. This should result in a reduction of over 300,000 spills from storm overflows per year by 2050 and ensure that no storm overflow is permitted to spill more than 10 times per year on average.
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 he has considered increasing funding for the Environment Agency for (a) capital and (b) appraisal work for (i) upstream water storage at Bramhall Green in Cheadle and (ii) other local schemes in preventing flooding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The proposed capital project in Bramhall Green, Cheadle was not successful in receiving a Grant-in-Aid or Regional Flood and Coastal Committee Local Levy funding allocation in 2025/26. A robust prioritisation exercise was undertaken to determine which projects should receive funding and, unfortunately did not qualify. The bidding process for projects in 2026/27 has now opened and Bramhall Green, as well as Chorlton Brook Cheadle will bid to be able to progress next Financial Year. The Environment Agency continues to work with Mersey Rivers Trust in the Cheadle area to explore additional opportunities that can be pursued in the meantime.
Nearby Poise Brook in Hazel Grove received £340k funding this year, including Grant in Aid allocation of £42,000. This was awarded to support the continuation of appraisal work and to further assess the shortlisted options. Should a viable scheme be identified through this work, it has the potential to bring significant benefits to the communities of Hazel Grove, Torkington, and Offerton Green, enhancing their resilience and providing greater peace of mind for the future.
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of funding further research into the long-term health impacts of chemicals in period products.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We work across Government, with stakeholders and with UKRI to identify the most pressing research priorities to understand the potential harms from chemicals, and opportunities to take action on them. Potential further research into the long-term health impacts of chemicals in period products would be considered in this context.