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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing the Environment Agency with ring-fenced funding from the proceeds of fines placed on water companies for breaching sewage dumping regulations.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill will deliver on the Government’s commitment to put water companies under special measures. It will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.

Through the new cost recovery power in the Bill, we will enable the Environment Agency to fully recover costs for the full extent of their water company enforcement activities including prosecutions and civil sanctions, revocation notices of permits and pollution incidents.

The Water Restoration Fund, which launched in April 2024, was established to reinvest water company environmental fines and penalties into projects to improve the water environment. Defra is continuing to work with His Majesty’s Treasury regarding continued reinvestment of the water company fines and penalties on water environment improvement. A final decision on this will be made when the Spending Review concludes later this year.