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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what value of dividends were paid to shareholders in England's private water companies in each of the last five years.

Decisions on dividends for water company shareholders are made by water company boards. Company boards carry out these decisions within the framework of regulatory price controls, licence conditions and company law. Ofwat is responsible for economic regulation of the water companies.

Water companies publish their dividend statements in annual reports, which are not held by the Government.