Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of amending planning permission regulations to make the local water supplier a statutory consultees in applications to build data centres.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 15758 on 3 December 2024.

The hon. Member may also wish to know that we will be introducing secondary legislation later this year to prescribe data centres, gigafactories and laboratories as types of business or commercial development capable (on request) of being directed into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects consenting regime.