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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an estimate of the rate of water leakage in the United Utilities network that serves the North West.

Government has committed to reduce leakage by 37% by 2038 on a trajectory to halve leakage by 2050 and is working with regulators and water companies to achieve this. Ofwat set Performance Commitments for water companies to achieve at the beginning of each price review period. According to United Utilities data, in 2022-23 they outperformed their performance commitment, delivering a 5.9% reduction against the 2019/20 baseline. They also state that they are on track to deliver a 15% reduction in leakage by the end of the current price review period.