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 publish all work undertaken by his Department to (a) define what is affordable for consumers to pay to the water industry and (b) assess whether charges made by the water industry to consumers are affordable.

As the independent economic regulator for the water sector, it is OFWAT's duty to review water prices every five years. This includes assessing the investment and pricing proposals included in water company business plans before setting limits on what companies can charge their customers. Most company business plans are proposing flat or declining customer bills from 2015.

OFWAT has a rolling programme of activity to keep under review issues relating to affordability and it publishes analysis in this area. OFWAT is guided in its work by Defra's Strategic Policy Statement, published in May 2013, which sets out the policy framework within which the water regulator must operate and it identifies tackling affordability pressures as a key priority. OFWAT is required to monitor the action taken by water companies to help customers who struggle to afford their bills and report on this to the Secretary of State annually.

The Government has published guidance to water companies on the introduction of social tariffs, to assist them in providing support to customers at risk of affordability problems. The Government encourages water companies to introduce social tariffs to help vulnerable customers, taking account of local circumstances, needs and views.

Defra is currently working with OFWAT and the Environment Agency to assess the long term affordability of water bills. This work will incorporate the outcomes of OFWAT's current review of water prices, which concludes in December 2014, and will report in 2015.