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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has considered the potential merits of requiring fines and penalties levied on water companies to be returned to affected customers through reductions in their bills.

The Government reinvests environmental fines from water companies into local projects that benefit our communities and environment. The Government announced on 20 January 2026 that £29 million in environmental fines will support local water improvement projects. The Government will confirm how future income from environmental fines will be spent in due course.