Water Companies: Prosecutions

(asked on 4th July 2022) - View Source

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

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will introduce legislation enabling members of the general public to prosecute directors of water companies for wilful neglect of their statutory duties.


This question was answered on 21st July 2022

We have existing powers to enable regulators to hold directors of companies liable for offences committed by their company if consent, connivance or neglect on their part can be shown. In addition, Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, protects the interests of consumers by ensuring water companies properly carry out their statutory functions. They will not hesitate to take enforcement action where these duties are breached. In recent years we have seen historic fines placed on water companies, including fines of £90m for Southern Water and £4m for Thames Water in 2021 for serious pollution events.

The Government has introduced a range of further measures through the Environment Act 2021, and we have been clear that if we do not see the significant changes we expect, we will take further action.

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