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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of requirements under the Environment Act 2021 on the customers water bills.

Defra published an impact assessment on 20 March 2020 (Environment Act 2021 publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament) setting out the cost / benefit assessment of the Environment Act 2021 measures as were laid out in the then-draft Bill introduced in January 2020.

Several provisions in the Act will, however, be commenced by Regulations and detailed impact assessments will be undertaken as part of the development of those Regulations. These will include consideration of the impacts on customers.

The Defra-led Storm Overflows Taskforce has published a Storm Overflows Evidence Project on the costs, benefits and feasibility of different options for eliminating harm from storm overflows. The independent research conducted by Stantec presents a detailed overview of potential approaches that will act as an important evidence base for Government action. This is the first comprehensive analysis of its kind and the Government will take account of its findings in future impact assessments.