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 bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit dividend payments by water companies that do not meet Ofwat performance delivery targets.

Government and Ofwat have been clear that companies must be transparent about how dividends are linked to services for customers.

Government supports Ofwat’s recent consultation on improving financial resilience in the water sector, including strengthening the current licence condition related to water companies' dividends policies. These proposals would enable Ofwat to take enforcement action against companies that don’t link dividend payments to their environmental performance, or those failing to be transparent about their dividend pay-outs.

The consultation closed on 29 September and Ofwat will publish their decision document in early 2023. We are working closely with Ofwat to understand the findings and next steps.