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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Environment Agency’s environmental performance report 2021 in respect of water and sewerage companies in England, published on 14 July 2021; and what steps he plans to take in response to the findings of that report.

The Environment Agency (EA) published the latest Environmental Performance Assessment of water companies on 14 July (www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-and-sewerage-companies-in-england-environmental-performance-report-2021/water-and-sewerage-companies-in-england-environmental-performance-report-2021). This report showed that most water companies' performance had declined. This is simply unacceptable and the Government, Ofwat, and the EA share a joint commitment to tackling this issue.

We have been clear about our expectations that the sector cleans up their act. Where they are found to not be complying with legal obligations as a minimum, government will work with regulators to ensure they take robust action. The EA and Ofwat have powers under the Water Industry Act 1991, Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016, and the Environmental Protection Act 1990 that allow Ofwat to issue fines of up 10% of annual turnover, and the EA to prosecute water companies and their directors, leading to Court imposed fines.

Since 2015, the Environment Agency has brought 54 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies securing fines of over £139 million. Following an EA investigation, in July 2021 Southern Water were fined a record £90 million after pleading guilty to the thousands of illegal discharges of sewage. Upon our request, the independent sentencing council have also agreed to review guidelines to ensure fines applied by the Courts remain an effective deterrent.

The Environment Act 2021 set new duties and transparency mechanisms into place to further drive up the environmental performance of water companies. If we do not start to see the changes we expect rapidly, we will not hesitate to take further action.