Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support people in Oxfordshire who have been affected by Storm Henk.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Storm Henk impacted large parts of Oxfordshire, including homes, businesses and infrastructure. My thoughts are with those affected.
The Environment Agency worked tirelessly to minimise the impacts of flooding by operating flood assets, issuing flood warnings, making sure rivers were free of blockages and, where appropriate, putting out temporary barriers. Following the storm the Environment Agency continues to engage with impacted communities to gather information that will help them, and partners, better understand how they can support the communities to increase their resilience flooding.
The Environment Agency is working with partners to provide a joined-up approach so that communities get the most appropriate and swift support, including the ongoing work to develop and deliver projects such as the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme.
In January 2024, the Government announced the launch of the Flood Recovery Framework for areas most affected by Storm Henk. These schemes closed on 12 April and included:
Defra also activated the Property Flood Resilience (PFR) Repair Grant scheme where eligible properties can receive up to £5,000 to install PFR measures. Households and business who suffered from internal flooding should contact Oxfordshire County Council to apply. The PFR scheme opened on 8 January and will close in July 2025.
We are also actively reviewing the areas eligible for support through the Farming Recovery Fund to ensure it supports areas where farmland is most impacted due to Storm Henk. Oxfordshire is among these areas being considered for inclusion in the Fund. We are working through the impacts and will set out the position on the additional areas to be included in the Fund shortly. We will write to all those eligible farmers informing them of the funding they are able to claim.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of sewage discharges into the River Thames on the health of (a) dogs and (b) other pets.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is clear that the volume of sewage being discharged into our waters in unacceptable. That is why our Plan for Water sets out more investment, stronger regulation, and tougher enforcement to tackle pollution and clean up our water.
Alongside this, our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan sets clear and specific targets for water companies, regulators and the Government, to work towards the long-term ambition of eliminating ecological harm from storm overflows.
No specific assessment has been undertaken on the impact of sewage discharges on dogs and pets.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the evidence required for bathing status designation, how many swimmers are considered adequate to reach the threshold of a large number of people.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Bathing Water Regulations 2013 require the Secretary of State to identify and maintain a list of the surface waters in England where she expects a large number of people to bathe. All applications for bathing water designation are assessed against this criterion and other criterion as set out in the Bathing Water Regulations 2013 and in the guidance available at Bathing waters: apply for designation or de-designation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department has made available to the Environment Agency to (a) monitor and (b) classify bathing water in beaches and waterways in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency is allocated Environment Protection Grant in Aid funding in total from Government rather than Grant in Aid by activity. This is then allocated to teams delivering Environment Protection. A range of different teams delivering Environmental Protection contribute towards bathing water quality as well as other core outcomes. This limits breakdown beyond the level set out below, which represents a total of resource and capital funding. However, funding for 2022/23 includes £2.2 million, specifically for water company enforcement activity, including at least 4,000 farm visits per year and 500 sewerage inspections.
£m | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 |
Environment Protection Grant in Aid funding | 70 | 74 | 94 | 127 | 142 |
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 it his policy to introduce additional penalties for water companies that miss pollution incident reduction targets consistently over 5 years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat has recently announced financial penalties of almost £150 million applying to 11 water companies. These penalties are the result of missed targets on areas such as water supply interruptions, pollution incidents and internal sewer flooding. This money will be returned to customers through water bills in the next financial year.
Since 2015, the Environment Agency has brought 54 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of almost £140 million. On 9 July 2021, Southern Water was handed a record £90 million fine after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of sewage that polluted rivers and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex. The fine will be paid solely from the company's operating profits, not customer bills.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Environmental Information Regulations relating to sewage cases have been submitted to her Department since 1 January 2005; and how many have been rejected on (a) being manifestly unreasonable, (b) relating to unfinished documents or incomplete at date of receiving and (c) protection of environment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra only retains Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) requests for three years. Cases prior to this have been destroyed in line with our retention schedule.
The number of EIR requests managed in Defra with ‘sewage’ in the case title since 2019 is 14.
a) None of those were refused under regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIRs which relates to manifestly unreasonable.
b) None of those were refused as under regulation 12(4)(d) of the EIRs which relates to material which is still in the course of completion, to unfinished documents or to incomplete data.
c) None of those were refused as under regulation 12(5)(g) of the EIRs which relates to the protection of the environment to which the information relates.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she provides additional resources to community groups and water companies in areas with excellent or good bathing water status to help maintain water quality.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not fund water company investment, water companies raise funds through private mechanisms and customer bills which is highly regulated. However the EA works closely with partners to help maintain water quality and deliver bathing water regulations.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impact of financial penalties on water companies on the behaviour of those companies.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government believes that financial incentives reinforced by a strong regulatory framework does make a positive impact on water company behaviour. During the 2019 price review (PR19), Ofwat set specific performance commitments for water companies. These commitments set the minimum standards of service that companies are expected to attain. In November 2022, Ofwat announced financial penalties of almost £150 million applying to 11 water companies, as a result of underperformance in areas such as water supply interruptions, pollution incidents and internal sewer flooding. This money will rightly be returned to customers through water bills in the next financial year.
Additionally, where companies have failed to meet their statutory or licence obligations, regulators can take more formal enforcement action. For example, in 2019, Ofwat imposed a £126 million penalty package on Southern Water, following failures in the operation of their wastewater treatment works and misreporting performance information at these sites. This package included a rebate of £123m to customers through their bills and a £3 million fine. Following this, Ofwat has pushed Southern Water to improve financial resilience and outcomes for customers and the environment, which, in September 2021, resulted in a £1 billion injection of equity from Macquarie Asset Management. Macquarie have acknowledged the performance issues of Southern and have committed to delivering a turnaround showing how strong financial regulation can positively impact performance.
On Wednesday 30th November we announced we will be channelling money from water company fines into schemes to improve the environment.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many sewage release incidents took place in the UK in 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Sewage release data is available online: https://environment.data.gov.uk/dataset/21e15f12-0df8-4bfc-b763-45226c16a8ac
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) non-disclosure and (b) other confidentiality agreements relating to (i) employment, (ii) bullying, (iii) misconduct and (iii) harassment cases have been agreed by their Department in each year since 1 January 2010; and how much money from the public purse has been spent on (A) legal costs and (B) financial settlements for such agreements in each year since 1 January 2010.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No payments for non-disclosure or other confidentiality agreements relating to employment, bullying, misconduct or harassment cases have been agreed by the department since 2019. Information for the years prior to that is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.