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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor Ofwat's (a) monitoring and (b) enforcement of the ring-fencing of funds for vital infrastructure.

After writing to Ofwat, the Secretary of State has secured agreement that funding for vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. Ofwat will also ensure that when money for investment is not spent, companies refund customers, with money never allowed to be diverted for bonuses, dividends or salary increases.

As part of PR24, Ofwat have introduced increased consumer protections through Price Control Deliverables which act to pull back funding from companies when they fail to deliver, helping to ensure customers are protected and money is returned if outputs are not being met.

Ofwat propose to require companies to report on progress against their price control deliverable outputs on a six-monthly basis and forecast performance for the 2025-2030 period. Where Ofwat consider a company is sufficiently off-track, they will consider what additional steps that they should take.