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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of pollution incidents from Wessex Water sewerage assets in Somerset.

In Somerset, two new Water Industry Officer teams now monitor Wessex Water’s compliance with environmental permits and hold them accountable for pollution incidents. These teams inspect all Wessex Water assets and in 2024/25, delivered more inspections than any other EA Area, with similar performance expected this year. Officers are continually upskilled to strengthen incident response and enforcement capabilities to ensure they hold Wessex Water accountable.

Within the Yeovil constituency, the EA is due to complete a total of 22 inspections of Wessex Water assets this year, an increase from 6 last year. The EA has already responded to a significant pollution incident within the constituency, initially stopping the pollution incident and now investigating further to determine an appropriate enforcement response.