Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what compensation do water companies who have released sewage into the river pay to (a) residents and (b) businesses when they flood with contaminated water.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government considers the level of sewage being discharged to our waterways to be unacceptable. However, sewage is sometimes released to waterways under strict conditions to avoid it backing up into peoples’ homes and businesses.
Water companies are obliged to provide sewerage services under the Water Industry Act 1991. If a water company has failed to provide minimum standards of service to consumers, consumers are entitled to complain to their provider. We expect companies to respond to complaints appropriately and in a timely manner.
This Government is acting to drive down flood risk from every angle. At the last spending review the government increased funding for maintenance of flood defences by £22 million per year, so now over £200 million per year goes on maintenance. This funding ensures flood defences are kept in good working order.
Homeowners and businesses should contact their insurance provider if their property has been flooded. Flood Re is a joint government and insurance industry re-insurance scheme for UK households at high flood risk, available via more than 85 insurance brands.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure water companies provide compensation for (a) businesses and (b) residential properties flooded with sewage in the water.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government considers the level of sewage being discharged to our waterways to be unacceptable. However, sewage is sometimes released to waterways under strict conditions to avoid it backing up into peoples’ homes and businesses.
Water companies are obliged to provide sewerage services under the Water Industry Act 1991. If a water company has failed to provide minimum standards of service to consumers, consumers are entitled to complain to their provider. We expect companies to respond to complaints appropriately and in a timely manner.
This Government is acting to drive down flood risk from every angle. At the last spending review the government increased funding for maintenance of flood defences by £22 million per year, so now over £200 million per year goes on maintenance. This funding ensures flood defences are kept in good working order.
Homeowners and businesses should contact their insurance provider if their property has been flooded. Flood Re is a joint government and insurance industry re-insurance scheme for UK households at high flood risk, available via more than 85 insurance brands.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by what criteria he grades the cleanliness of rivers.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The cleanliness of rivers in England is graded through the assessment of their ecological and chemical status as set out here: River basin planning process overview - 3. Defining and describing the water environment - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects sewage releases into (a) the River Foss, (b) the River Ouse and (c) their tributaries to stop.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is clear that the amount of sewage currently being discharged into our waters is unacceptable. Through the government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we have set stringent targets for water companies to reduce the use of storm overflows. Our Plan will eliminate ecological harm from all storm sewage discharges by 2050.
In 2023 the Environment Agency carried out 17 targeted compliance inspections of Yorkshire Water’s waste-water treatment works which discharge into the Foss/Ouse and their tributaries.
Within the current Price Review Period, which runs from 2020 to 2025, Yorkshire Water will be improving Hutton and Stillington treatment works, which discharge into the Foss catchment, in order to ensure they comply with requirements under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). These improvements should reduce Phosphorus from the final effluent, and drive improvement of the WFD status.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to provide public health warnings over the risk to (a) people and (b) animals of entering rivers into which sewage has been released.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government directed water companies to increase their storm overflow monitoring in 2013 and achieved 100% event duration monitoring (EDM) coverage before the end of 2023. EDM data shows when storm overflows are discharging, and how long discharges have lasted for. The wealth of data collected from these monitors will ensure that we know the full extent of the problem – increasing transparency, revealing the worst-offending overflows, and enabling regulators to hold polluters to account.
In addition, the Environment Agency takes over 7,000 samples each year at England’s 424 designated bathing waters, which are used to determine the annual bathing water classifications. These classifications are displayed on signage at bathing waters and online on the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website, to allow bathers to make informed decisions before entering the water. If there is a pollution incident, a notification is posted on the Swimfo website and on signage at the bathing water. Throughout the bathing season, the Environment Agency makes daily pollution risk forecasts for a number of bathing waters, where water quality may be temporarily reduced due to factors such as heavy rainfall, wind or the tide. When a temporary reduction in water quality is forecast, the Environment Agency issues a pollution risk warning and advice against bathing, enabling bathers to avoid times or locations where the risk of pollution is higher than normal and health risks from bathing may be higher than the annual classification suggests. To reduce risk to health from bathing waters, the UK Health Security Agency and the Environment Agency offer advice in their ‘Swim Healthy’ guidance, which is available to read before making any decision on swimming.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to move water companies that do not restrict sewage spills under an operator of last resort.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no operator of last resort for water companies. Ofwat monitors the performance and financial position of all water companies and publishes results on these annually. Ofwat will take action when water company performance is not at the level Government expect, or if their investors need to strengthen their long-term financial resilience.
This Government is holding the water industry to account on a scale never seen before. We have legislated to introduce unlimited penalties on water companies who breach their environmental permits and expand the range of offences to which penalties can be applied. Furthermore, on 20 February, the Government and Environment Agency (EA) announced that they will quadruple the number of water company inspections to crack down on poor performing companies.
We will continue to hold water companies to account and if there are illegal breaches of permits, the regulators will not hesitate to take robust action.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of infrastructure in preventing sewage releases into rivers.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through the Government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we have set stringent targets for water companies to reduce the use of storm overflows, driving the largest infrastructure programme in water company history of £60 billion over 25 years. We expect water companies to utilise a natural capital approach, considering carbon reduction and biodiversity net gain, as well as catchment level and nature-based solutions in their planning where possible.
Water company investment in environmental improvements has been scaled up to £7.1 billion over the period 2020 – 25. This includes £3.1 billion invested in storm overflow improvements specifically. Moreover, we expect water companies to use the next five-year Price Review period (2025-2030) to set bold and ambitious plans that deliver for people and the environment.
On 11 March, the Government announced additional fast-tracked investment of £180m over the next 12 months into improving sewer infrastructure. This is expected to prevent more than 8000 sewage spills polluting English waterways.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that new (a) residential and (b) commercial developments do not overload local sewers.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s Plan for Water (2023) recognises Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) as a measure that reduces the risk of surface water flooding and has committed to rolling out SuDS in all new developments. Government is now looking at how best to implement, considering scope, threshold and process.
This reduces the pressure on our traditional infrastructure by reducing the overall amount of water that ends up in the sewers and storm overflow discharges, mitigating flood risk and preventing pollution from untreated sewage ending up in our waterways.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) current and (b) future (i) capacity and (ii) performance of sewage and drainage infrastructure in (A) England and (B) York.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of having a robust capacity and performance for England’s sewage and drainage infrastructure, both now and into future. As part of the Environment Act 2021, a new duty has been created for water companies in England, including Yorkshire Water, to produce Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs). DWMPs set out how a water company intends to improve their drainage and wastewater systems over the next 25 years, accounting for factors including growing population and changing environmental circumstances. These plans will help sewerage companies to fully assess the capacity of the wastewater network and develop collaborative solutions to current problems and future issues. The plans will bring together various stakeholders including local authorities and industry regulators. Taking a longer-term strategic approach to drainage management, will help to identify and mitigate issues related to insufficient network capacity or damaged infrastructure.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on his targets on tree planting in (a) England and (b) Yorkshire; and what steps he is taking to measure progress on extending the canopy of the White Rose Forest.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Last year we planted 3,600 hectares of new woodland and trees outside of woodland, this represents the highest planting rate for nearly a decade and an almost 40% increase on the previous year. This positive trend represents significant progress in achieving our targets and we have a strong pipeline for the next few years.
We do not have regional targets for tree planting in England.
Between 2020 and 2023 our Nature for Climate Fund has supported the White Rose Forest to plant 679 hectares of new trees and woodlands as part of England’s Community Forests Trees for Climate Programme. An additional 4.55 hectares plus 847 Standard Trees have been planted in the White Rose Forest under the Northern Forest Nature for Climate Grant between 2021 and 2023. With continued funding, the White Rose Forest is projected to plant significant additional hectares of woodland and numbers of standard trees this year.