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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness and operational use of the Beckton desalination plant since 2010; whether future desalination plants will be subject to operational performance requirements; and what plans she has to expand desalination capacity as part of the UK's long-term water security strategy.

Thames Water is responsible for maintaining resilient supplies for its customers and reporting through its statutory planning and regulatory processes.

Water companies are required to demonstrate, through their Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs), that schemes, including the eight new desalination schemes proposed in their WRMPs, will maintain secure water supplies.