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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 19 December 2024 (HL3060), what remedy the public currently has against a failure by a water company to proactively publish the operational sewage treatment and discharge datasets, the publication of which is not otherwise provided for in law.

The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs) require public authorities – including water companies - to disclose environmental information proactively. This includes data or summaries of data derived from the monitoring of activities affecting, or likely to affect, the environment.

The Information Commissioner, as the regulatory authority for information rights, promotes good practice by public authorities and may issue a “practice recommendation” to a public authority if it appears to him that the practice of the authority does not conform with that proposed in the Code of Practice. In July 2024, the Information Commissioner wrote to 12 water companies to remind them of their transparency obligations and followed this up in December 2024 by publishing a case study demonstrating both how challenges in publishing data can be overcome and the benefits of publishing frequently requested information.

If a member of the public seeks environmental information that a public authority has not proactively made available, they may request it, using Regulation 5 of the EIRs Where an exception does not apply to the information, the public authority must supply the information within 20 working days of receiving the request. If the requestor is dissatisfied with the way the request was handled, they may request a review from the public authority and if they continue to be dissatisfied, may request a decision from the Information Commissioner.

Alternatively, a member of the public may seek a judicial review of a public authorities’ failure to discharge its duties to disclose information proactively under the EIRs.