Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made with Ofwat on helping to ensure that Yorkshire Water provides value to its customers through how it prioritises resources.

Ofwat, the economic regulator, sets specific performance targets for companies including Yorkshire Water in the five-yearly price review. Where companies fail to meet these targets, they must reimburse customers through lower water bills.

As a result, Ofwat's Water Company Performance Report 2024-25 shows that Yorkshire Water's Outcome Delivery Incentive (ODI) underperformance payment was £46.302m. This is available on the Ofwat website: Water Company Performance Report 2024-25 - Ofwat.

The Government expects companies to provide high levels of service for customers and believes customers should be at heart of challenging companies on performance. We ensured companies updated their Articles of Association, the rules governing each company, to make the interests of customers a primary objective and took powers in the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 to allow the Consumer Council for Water introduce new customer panels to hold companies to account.