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 take steps to help ensure that water companies take responsibility for drainage in order to prevent flooding.

Water companies, specifically sewerage undertakers, have a statutory duty under section 94(1) of the Water Industry Act 1991 to provide, improve and extend a system of public sewers to ensure that an area is "effectually drained".

However, drainage alone cannot prevent flooding, and the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 ("the 2010 Act") establishes flood Risk Management Authorities (RMAs), to address the risk of flooding. The 2010 Act defines RMAs as the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Lead Local Flood Authorities, water and sewerage undertakers, highway authorities, district authorities and Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs).

All RMAs must act in a manner that is consistent with the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy. The 2010 Act requires RMAs to cooperate with each other and gives them information sharing powers to facilitate cooperation. They have flexibility to form informal partnerships and to act on behalf of one another.

In addition, the Environment Bill will require sewerage undertakers to produce Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans on a statutory basis which aim to assist such partnerships and collaborative working. Plans will fully assess an undertaker's network capacity and set out the measures undertakers plan to take to develop their drainage and sewerage systems. Undertakers started developing plans on a non-statutory basis in 2018.