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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of the fines mechanism for reducing sewage discharge by water companies.

Ofwat and the Environment Agency can take enforcement action when a water company is in breach of its statutory duties and licence obligations. The Environment Agency can pursue criminal prosecution for which there can be unlimited fines. Since 2015, the Environment Agency has brought 54 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of almost £140 million.

For the most serious contraventions, Ofwat can impose financial penalties on companies. For example, in 2019, Ofwat imposed a penalty package on Southern Water of £126 million for spills of wastewater into the environment from its sewerage plants and for deliberately misreporting its performance. The Environment Agency and Ofwat have recently launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company sewage discharges ever, at over 2200 treatment works, following new data coming to light as a result of increased monitoring.

We will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, we will not hesitate to hold companies to account.