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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what contingency plans his Department has should drought conditions (a) persist and (b) worsen.

Water companies must show how they provide a secure supply of water to their customers and protect the environment during dry weather and droughts through their statutory drought plans. A drought plan is an operational plan that sets out what actions a water company will take as a drought worsens.

Both Defra and the Environment Agency operate an incident response structure that they use to manage a drought.

Emergency measures such as the need for water restrictions through standpipes and rota cuts are included in water companies’ emergency plans. Local authorities take a lead role in local resilience.