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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to enable criminal charges to be brought against water company executives who persistently break the law.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill delivers on the Government’s commitment to bring criminal charges against persistent lawbreakers.

Through the Bill, the maximum penalty for obstruction of investigations by the regulators will be strengthened to include imprisonment for up to two years in all cases, and it will be possible for cases to be heard either in the Crown Court or the Magistrates Court. In addition, the Bill will provide for potential imprisonment where the obstruction is attributable to the consent, connivance or neglect of a senior officer of the company.