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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, further to the Answer of 14 September 2026 to Question 27413 on water companies' finances, what the timetable is for the Government's Water White Paper commitment to consider how the regulator can work with companies and investors to prevent the accumulation of unmanageable debt; and by what date she expects proposals arising from that commitment to be published.

The strengthened Water Bill will make the core legislative changes needed to fundamentally reset the water system, including measures to improve the sector’s long-term financial resilience through modernised economic regulation. The Bill has been announced as a Second Session Bill and will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.