Speeches by Hardy.

“As I say, with drinking water, they are currently already meeting their standards while the limit is non-statutory, so then when you make it statutory, no, I would not on drinking water.”

“The really good thing is that because the Drinking Water Inspectorate is so good, it puts in non-statutory limits already. When I came into Government I said, “That is brilliant. You have non-statutory limits. I like it and I want to make them statutory,” and that is exactly what we are going to do. Just to reassure yo…”

“You know what I am going to say now.”

“Aha—and we are in some areas. I am pleased you asked me that question because then I get to tell you about drinking water. Yes, in some areas we are. On drinking water, we have some of the best drinking water in the whole world. Its standards are incredibly high. The Drinking Water Inspectorate is incredible. It is one…”

“It is a good thing that we listen to experts under this Government. It is a good thing that we have research and information, that we take knowledge in, and we recognise that where there is expertise we should listen to it, learn from it and understand it. It is also good that, under this Government, we are having an E…”

“Thank you so much for having me today and for also raising the problems we have around PFAS as an issue. I look forward to working in collaboration with your Committee. When it comes to the plan, I am very proud of it. I am obviously not here to speak for the previous Government’s action or inaction, but I will talk fo…”

“Yes, that is a really important issue. Pesticides sit outside of what we are talking about today, but that issue is part of the EU reset negotiations and the SPS agreement. That is live at the moment and I am not personally involved in those negotiations so I don’t know how much of an update I can give you, other than …”

“That is the reforms that we were talking about and how we look at REACH. As Marc pointed out as well, we will be looking carefully at what is happening with the EU and where they get to when it comes to PFAS restrictions and what that regime actually ends up looking like. This comes down to fundamentally changing the s…”

“I did walk into that, didn’t I? I thank my hon. Friend. If he wants to send that through to me, I will of course take a serious look at it. I am very keen to be getting out and about when it is a bit less wet—but rain should be what I am used to. Restoring the health of our rivers is fundamental to safeguarding nature,…”

“I have seen the hon. Lady’s letter. I will get told off by officials for saying this, but I am basically looking at whether I can come back to the Wye and do something there with everybody. If not, we can do something in Parliament. I went to the Wye last year, and we announced our £1 million research fund to look at w…”

“It is a pleasure, Ms Butler, to serve under your chairwomanship in Westminster Hall for the first time. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton) for securing this debate and for all the passion, care and interest that he has consistently shown in this issue. I share his excitement about the wil…”

“I have huge sympathy and support for the hon. Lady and her constituents in the situation that they have faced in the last few weeks and I understand the urgent need for compensation, not just for her residents, but many of the neighbouring constituencies. She mentioned that it is the first time that Ofwat has ever done…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon) for securing this debate. I am particularly delighted he has done so today—great timing—since today we have published our new vision for water. These are once-in-a-generation reforms to…”

“As the right hon. Gentleman has noted, I cannot speak about live investigations, but I will reflect on what he outlines. The hon. Member for Epping Forest (Dr Hudson) mentioned livestock and its importance, something that came up a lot during our many calls. Yes, we need adequate water for people, but there have also b…”

“One of the reasons we introduced the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 and the bonus ban was exactly to ensure that people who get a bonus have earned it and that people who have not earned one do not get one. That seems a pretty straightforward way of doing things in my mind. This goes back to the point made by collea…”

“I completely share the hon. Lady’s outrage. When communication was specifically requested by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary, we asked for that information to be made available to Members of Parliament. A bottled water station was requested—it beggars belief, to be honest. As I have said, Ofwat and the Drinking Wate…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the leadership that she showed in her constituency during the Christmas period. We had all hoped to have some time off, but she had to reopen her office to communicate with residents. She is right to say that we need to learn lessons. What frustrates me more than many other things is the fact…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I know she raised on the call her concern about livestock and the impact on animals. Water companies have a statutory duty to provide wholesome water—it is literally their job to provide that—and their requirements are set out in the security and emergency measures direction. The…”

“I completely agree. Poor communication is a theme that has run throughout this crisis; again, it is something that needs to be looked at seriously when the Drinking Water Inspectorate does its investigation, and something that I hope Ofwat will look at as well.”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, and yes, we have been spending a long time talking to each other. I watched the EFRA Committee with great interest, particularly when Dave Hinton rated himself eight out of 10. It is really important that the Drinking Water Inspectorate has the space to do its investigation.…”