Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of current levels of investment in wastewater infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A record £104 billion of private sector investment has been secured to accelerate the cleaning up of our rivers, lakes and seas. This includes over £10 billion to improve nearly 2,500 storm overflows in England over the next five years. We will move to a system where assets are properly maintained and develop forward-looking asset health metrics to ensure this critical infrastructure gets the funding it needs.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help improve coordination between Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate in regulating water and sewerage undertakers.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with the existing regulators, including Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, to strengthen coordination across the regulatory system. This includes supporting the regulators in their work to actively join up and improve coordination, championing a ‘one organisation’ approach on key areas of delivery ahead of establishment of the new single regulator. This will simplify the requirements of water companies, reduce duplication and deliver better regulation for improved outcomes across the entire water system.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what safeguards are in place to prevent conflicts of interest arising between regulators of the water sector and the water and sewerage undertakers they regulate.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat have robust safeguards in place to prevent conflicts of interest between regulators and the water and sewerage companies they oversee.
All EA employees, contractors and temporary workers must submit an annual declaration of interests, including a nil return where no interests are held. Declarations cover all aspects of an individual’s role and are reviewed by managers, who must identify any actual or potential conflicts and put appropriate mitigation measures in place where necessary.
Ofwat’s conflict of interest arrangements are based on wider Civil Service standards. Staff must declare any actual or potential conflicts on appointment, annually, and as they arise, including during procurement and recruitment, with all declarations recorded in a central register. Conflicts are managed on a proportionate, case-by-case basis, supported by strict rules on financial interests, controls on confidential information, and senior management oversight. Business Appointment Rules may also apply when staff leave Ofwat.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of enforcement action taken against water and sewerage undertakers for breaches of environmental permits.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, the Environment Agency (EA) will not hesitate to hold companies to account.
The Water (Special Measures) Act has provided the most significant increase in enforcement powers to the regulators in a decade, giving existing regulators the teeth they need to take tougher action against water companies, including new powers for the EA to impose automatic penalties, and penalties to the lower, civil standard of proof.
Over the past three years, the annual inspections requirement has risen from 1,000 to 4,000 with a target of 10,000 for 2025/26, reflecting a significant strengthening of regulatory oversight. By the end of February 2026, over 10,154 inspections had already been delivered. As a result of this strengthened regulatory presence, the EA has brought forward 19 legal proceedings, four prosecutions, and 19 civil sanctions so far this year, alongside increased warnings and further investigations into serious pollution incidents.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspections of wastewater treatment works and storm overflows were conducted by the Environment Agency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has provided the following figures for inspections of wastewater treatment works and storm overflows in each of the last five financial years.
Financial Year | Totals |
2021-22 | 639 |
2022-23 | 878 |
2023-24 | 1442 |
2024-25 | 4672 |
2025-26 | 10150 |
* 2025/26 data is year to date (as of 18 March). March 2026 data is also still to be completed.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of alternative governance for water utilities, including public ownership and mutual structures.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are several different ownership models in the companies providing water in the United Kingdom.
Where a company requests to transition to a new ownership model, we have committed in the White Paper that the regulator will develop a transparent process to assess whether the change should go ahead and ensure customer interests are properly reflected in the decision.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what mechanisms are in place to ensure coordination between her Department and the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Department for Education on policies affecting household access to food; and whether responsibility for oversight of such coordination rests with a named Minister.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Good Food Cycle, published in July 2025, identifies 10 priority outcomes across themes of healthier food, sustainability, food security, affordability and inequality, and good growth. Defra leads on coordination across government on the Good Food Cycle outcomes. Defra officials and Ministers have regular interactions with other Government departments to ensure coordination on policies required to deliver them. This includes regular engagement with the Department for Work and Pensions on ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels, with the Department for Health and Social Care on food related elements of the 10 Year Health Plan, and with the Department for Education on School Food Standards.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what indicators her department uses to assess progressive realisation of access to adequate, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food; and whether she plans to publish a consolidated framework for measuring outcomes related to the right to food.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra publishes the triennial UK Food Security Report, which contains data on household food security including accessibility, affordability and dietary patterns. The next report will be published in 2027. In the intervening years, the UK Food Security Digest also covers household food security in a more condensed form.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her department has assessed the long-term implications of reliance on emergency food provision for the fulfilment of the right to food; and what steps she is taking to reduce structural dependence on such provision.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has not assessed the implications of emergency food provision for fulfilment of a right to food. The Government is committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels. From 1 April 2026, The Government is introducing a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis, to support the Government’s ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of food price inflation on households experiencing food insecurity; and how that assessment informs current food and agriculture policy.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Food price inflation is part of a wider challenge on cost of living and the Government’s approach goes beyond tackling food alone. The Government is working to address the cost-of-living pressures facing families across the country through targeted measures including raising the minimum wage, extending the bus fare cap, rolling out Best Start family hubs; extending the holiday activity and food programme; the expansion of free-school-meals; removing the two-child limit on Universal Credit; and reforming the crisis support though the introduction of the Crisis and Resilience Fund. Defra is introducing the Food Inflation Gateway which will assess the impact of Government regulations on food businesses and food prices before implementation. In December 2025, the Government announced the creation of the Farming & Food Partnership Board which will bring together farming, food, retail, finance and Government, taking a strategic farm to fork approach to increase farming profitability and strengthen our food production.