To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when Water UK first advised her Department that water providers intended to increase water bills rather than use profits to cover the cost of infrastructure to prevent sewage discharges.

Water UK’s recent announcement shows that water companies are responding to what we have already asked of them in our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. The Plan was published in August 2022, alongside an Impact Assessment which considers costs and benefits of the final targets to businesses, the public, wider society and government spending where applicable.

It is Ofwat, the independent Regulator, and not the government that assesses water companies’ business plans and sets the overall price cap that each company may recover from customers. As part of the process, Ofwat balances the interests of consumers with the ability for companies to fund their services.