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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the total amount received from water companies in (a) fines and (b) penalties since the Spending Review 2023; and what steps she has taken to ensure that the funds have been allocated to projects to improve water standards.

£109 million in fines and penalties has been applied against water companies since October 2023. This includes the £104.5 million fine issued by Ofwat to Thames Water for breaches of rules relating to the company’s wastewater operations.

In June this Government announced that fines and penalties levied against water companies since October 2023, as well as future fines and penalties, will be reinvested into future local environmental projects across the country to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Further details about the projects and programmes to be funded by these water company fines onwards will be announced in due course.