Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of older people who (a) are eligible for and (b) receive a social tariff from water companies as of 5 December 2023.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to a water sector that delivers for customers, the environment and wider society.
We recognise that some households and vulnerable groups may struggle to pay their water bill in full and as such, continue to work with industry and consumer groups to explore options to improve arrangements focussing on improving consistency and fairness across social tariff schemes.
In addition to social tariff schemes, we know that there are many older people supported through the statutory scheme WaterSure, which assists over 220,000 households.
We expect all water companies to make sure households are aware of the schemes and measures available to help those struggling to pay their bills and do everything they can to support all customers who are vulnerable, including having regard to the interests of individuals of pensionable age.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the UN Environment Programme on which UK cities have expressed an interest in the Cool Coalition’s Nature for Cool Cities Challenge.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The former Secretary of State had not held any recent discussions with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on the Cool Coalition’s Nature for Cool Cities Challenge. However, the UK is actively involved in many of the UN Environment Programme's workstreams and has a strong relationship with the organisation. I look forward to building on this relationship and continuing to support the vital work of UNEP in the coming months.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will implement a single social tariff for water and sewerage services.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
I refer my Honourable friend to the answer given on 3 February 2023 to PQ 135453.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 holds data on the number of occasions when local authorities have not provided information on quality of bathing water at specific sites.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Bathing Water Regulations require local authorities to display information about the bathing water quality at designated sites, enabling people to make informed decisions before swimming. Compliance with bathing water signs is improving. Defra’s data for 2022 shows that 88% of all bathing waters in England had signage displaying the required information – this is compared with 59% in 2017. Defra continues to engage directly with local authorities that may not be displaying appropriate signage to ensure they understand their responsibilities under the regulations and to improve compliance.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what length of time warnings are required to be displayed at bathing water sites where there has been an indication of high faecal organisms in the water.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
There is no statutory requirement for warnings to be displayed after samples confirm a high level of faecal indicator organisms in the water. However, at bathing waters where there are predictable factors that are shown to influence water quality, the Environment Agency warns bathers of any potential periods of short-term reduced water quality through its Pollution Risk Forecasting system.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what mechanism her Department has for provision of public information on bathing water testing at locations across England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The results of water quality sampling by the Environment Agency at designated bathing waters in England are displayed on the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website: https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/. Local authorities are required to provide information about each bathing water through signage in the vicinity of the site, including the site’s current bathing water quality classification and any advice against bathing which has been issued there. Signs often include a link to water sampling information on the Swimfo website.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to extend the period of testing bathing water sites to 52 weeks a year.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra will continue to reflect on changes in how and where people use bathing waters, including new evidence where it exists around when and where people use bathing waters, to feed into future bathing water policy development.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which public body is responsible for informing the public of bathing water test results.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency is the public body responsible for informing the public of bathing water test results. The Environment Agency provides this information on the Swimfo website: https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce real-time water quality monitoring stations in designated bathing water locations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
During the bathing water season (May to September) the Environment Agency regularly monitors the bathing water quality at every designated site, resulting in the annual classifications. Alongside this the Environment Agency also issues daily pollution risk forecasts and warnings throughout the bathing water season, advising when there is likely to be reduced water quality. Defra will continue to reflect on changes in how and where people use bathing waters, including new evidence and technologies where these exist, to feed into future bathing water policy development.
Under the Environment Act 2021, the Government will require sewerage undertakers wholly or mainly in England to report on discharges from storm overflows in near-real time by spring 2025. Furthermore, in April, we also launched our consultation on Continuous Water Quality Monitoring and Event Duration Monitoring. This outlines the Government’s proposals to enhance the monitoring of storm overflow and final effluent discharges. The Government’s response to this consultation was issued on 14 September 2023. Water companies are now taking forward plans to implement this programme from 2025.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the adequacy of the number of designated bathing water locations classified as excellent in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The number of bathing waters in England meeting the ‘excellent’ (highest) standard in 2022 was 72.1%, which is the highest since new more stringent standards were introduced in 2015.
This is an increase of nearly 21 percentage points compared to 2010, when only 51.3% of bathing waters met the highest standard then in force. The Environment Agency works closely with local stakeholders at all designated bathing waters to drive water quality improvements.