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 move water companies that do not restrict sewage spills under an operator of last resort.

There is no operator of last resort for water companies. Ofwat monitors the performance and financial position of all water companies and publishes results on these annually. Ofwat will take action when water company performance is not at the level Government expect, or if their investors need to strengthen their long-term financial resilience.

This Government is holding the water industry to account on a scale never seen before. We have legislated to introduce unlimited penalties on water companies who breach their environmental permits and expand the range of offences to which penalties can be applied. Furthermore, on 20 February, the Government and Environment Agency (EA) announced that they will quadruple the number of water company inspections to crack down on poor performing companies.

We will continue to hold water companies to account and if there are illegal breaches of permits, the regulators will not hesitate to take robust action.