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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the UK's resilience to drought; and what steps he is taking to help (a) ensure that water companies (i) do not over-abstract from boreholes and (ii) repair infrastructure leaks and (b) encourage reductions in water waste.

The Environment Agency's National Framework for Water Resources, published in March 2020, sets out the strategic water needs for England up to 2050 and beyond, taking account of climate change and population growth. The Framework sets out how we will reduce demand, halve leakage rates, develop new supply infrastructure, move water to where it is needed, increase drought resilience of water supplies and abstract water sustainably, including from boreholes. Water companies are now preparing their statutory Water Resources Management Plans for consultations, late in 2022. The plans will show how water companies will deliver secure water supplies sustainably, over at least a 25 year period. The statutory plans are reviewed annually, to ensure they are maintained.

The proposed new legally binding target under the Environment Act 2021 aims to support the sustainable use of water further by reducing the public demand for water.

This will be enabled through the policies set out in the Written Ministerial Statement on reducing demand for water, including the introduction of mandatory water efficiency labelling and further work to reduce water use in new developments and retrofits.