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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to take steps to strengthen the accountability of water companies for pollution other than by implementing a (a) self-monitoring and (b) fines system.

This Government has put in place the building blocks to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. The Water (Special Measures) Act provides the most significant increase in enforcement powers for the regulators in a decade, giving them the teeth they need to take tougher action against water companies.

The Act has introduced independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish near real-time data (within an hour of a discharge occurring) for all emergency overflows, matching the pre-existing duty and meeting the Government commitment to ensure monitoring of every outlet.

The Act banned unfair bonuses for ten polluting water bosses this year and introduced prison sentences for executives who cover up sewage spills - closing the gaps that have allowed companies to get away with behaviours that are unacceptable.

The Independent Water Commission examined how to strengthen the regulation even further. The former Secretary of State provided an Oral Statement to Parliament in response to the final report and the Government will be taking forward a number of recommendations.