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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has undertaken consultations with (a) stakeholders and (b) investors in relation to Operation Timber in the last 12 months.

Fundamentally water companies are commercial entities, and it would be inappropriate to comment further on the specific situation of any individual company.

The Government and Ofwat – the financial regulator for the water sector – are carefully monitoring the situation, and Ofwat continues to engage with Thames Water to support it in improving its financial resilience within the context of its licence and broader statutory obligations.