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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the water regulation budget on Ofwat’s regulatory capacity.

Ofwat is the independent economic regulator for the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales. Ofwat is directly accountable to Parliament, and its duties are set out in the Water Industry Act 1991.

Ofwat is primarily a levy funded regulator raising our income from water companies through licence fees. As a result of Ofwat's increase in funding as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, it will be able to respond to the pace of change required now and in the future. Ofwat has, and will continue to, recruit additional capacity and capability to support the government’s longer-term plans for reforming the sector and to continue to improve the way it regulates to improve outcomes for customers, society and the environment.