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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many of the 88 recommendations proposed in the independent report entitled Independent Water Commission: review of the water sector, published in July 2025, are included in her Department's policy paper entitled A new vision for water: white paper, published on 20 January 2026.

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

Defra thoroughly reviewed the Independent Water Commission’s final report in its entirety, and the White Paper sets out our overall response to the Commission’s recommendations.

This Government’s priority is to deliver the best possible outcomes for customers, the environment and investors through this once-in-a-generation reform of the water sector.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on which dates the Water Delivery Taskforce has met.

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

Defra has established a Water Delivery Taskforce to ensure that water companies deliver on their planned investments to provide water and wastewater capacity. It ensures that water availability and wastewater capacity are not a constraint on growth.

The Water Delivery Taskforce first met in April 2025 and has convened on a six-weekly cycle since, including meetings in June, July, September, November, and December 2025. Its next meeting is scheduled for February 2026.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has assessed the potential impact of the Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 on the number of wildfires, including their incidence, scale, and severity.

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

Burning is damaging to peatlands and can increase their long-term vulnerability to wildfires, while wetter, healthy-functioning peatlands are more resilient to the impacts of wildfire. In developing the Amendments to The Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021, the Department considered the potential impacts of burning practices on wildfire risk, drawing on published evidence, responses to the public consultation and engagement with the National Fire Chiefs Council, and Fire and Rescue Services.

The Regulations enhance protection of upland peatlands by expanding restrictions on burning practices, with the aim of reducing long‑term wildfire risk and improving landscape resilience.

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 her Department's White Paper entitled A New Vision for Water, published on 20 January 2026, if she plans to publish the Transition Plan on a sitting day of the House this year.

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

The Transition Plan will be published in 2026. It will set clear direction on priorities, sequencing, and engagement, giving the sector confidence as reforms begin and ahead of the introduction of an upcoming water bill.

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 her Department's White Paper entitled A New Vision for Water, published on 20 January 2026, what estimate she has made of the number of cattle farms that could be impacted by an extension of the environmental permit regime.

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

Government announced its intention to develop options for consultation on extension of environmental permitting to dairy and intensive beef farms through the Environmental Improvement Plan published in December last year. The Government is looking to develop a proportionate risk-based approach with requirements focussed on the most polluting farms.

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 her Department's White Paper entitled A New Vision for Water, published on 20 January 2026, what estimate she has made of the average annual cost of complying with the environmental permit regime for an average cattle farm.

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

An environmental permit would require regulated businesses to apply measures to reduce pollution. The cost of complying with a permit would depend on which pollution measures they would be required to adopt, which would depend largely on the type of farm and the risk it poses to the environment.