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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what penalties can be applied against individual directors of water companies who recklessly or repeatedly discharge unpermitted sewage into waterways.

There is a range of legal powers available to Defra and its regulators, such as the Environment Agency, to hold company directors to account when they cause or knowingly permit a breach of environmental regulations. These powers are used regularly to hold directors to account, including where necessary bringing forward criminal proceedings.

If successful, prosecution can lead to company director(s) being fined, imprisoned, handed a suspended sentence, ordered to do unpaid community work, and disqualified from holding office as a director for a fixed period of up to fifteen years.