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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department scrutinises South East Water’s performance in providing alternative water to vulnerable customers following the loss of water supply.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) regulate water company performance against the Security and Emergency Measures Direction (SEMD), including its requirement for companies to identify and prioritise vulnerable customers.

The DWI’s assessment into the supply failures experienced by South East Water customers in the Tunbridge Wells area provides a recent illustration of how DWI scrutinise company performance against SEMD requirements.

The DWI have a range of enforcement options for non-compliance. These include the ability to serve companies with enforcement orders under section 18 of the Water Industry Act. DWI enforcement against South East Water for the multiple failings experienced in late 2025 and early 2026 should lead to improved resilience measures in the longer term, but the scale of the changes required will take time to implement. In the meantime, the Government expects SEW to take urgent action to improve the robustness of its contingency plans to meet SEMD obligations.