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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding from the public purse the Drinking Water Inspectorate has received in each of the last five years.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) is an autonomous specialist unit within Defra’s Floods and Water Directorate whose purpose is to regulate the quality of public drinking water supplied to consumers in England and Wales. The DWI raises the majority of its operational funding from a levy on water companies in accordance with the Water Quality and Supply (Fees) Order 2016 to deliver its regulatory functions. The amount of income from Defra funding is specifically for activities not accommodated by the Fees Order. The table below summarises the overall operating income of the DWI with a subset of Defra’s contributory funding in each financial year from 2016/17 through to 2021/22.