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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the ratio between (a) fixed and (b) variable costs in the provision of domestic water supply.

Ofwat sets limits on the expenditure that water companies can recover from customers every five years. In setting these limits, Ofwat does not assess company expenditure with reference to fixed and variable costs.