Speeches by Reynolds.

“We had some issues last year with the farming budget and the ELM schemes. The SFI reached a point where the budget was spent, and then it was cut off very suddenly. They are tricky schemes because, for example on the ELMs capital grant, we give farmers quite some flexibility. It means that, over two or three years, the…”

“You will not be surprised to hear that we work closely with MHCLG on this. The consultation that we are doing on the new NPPF contains, as you will know, a new requirement for SuDs—sustainable drainage systems—to be designed in accordance with new national standards that were published last year. I don’t know, David, i…”

“Okay. We would like to overachieve in this area. I think it is also worth saying that we are in constant communication with the OEP. It is not that it produces a huge report, as you will have seen on the EIP, and, as you say, it is already 10 months after the fact. Apart from reading that report and digesting it, we ar…”

“Can I jump in here? We will need to check on and come back to you on some of the things that Mr Wilson is asking about. It is not to say that, particularly in the first couple of areas, we do not do that, but we need to check and come back to you, if that is okay.”

“We have huge challenges with the water system. Storm overflows are an important part of the picture, but there are other things that we are having to ask the water companies to do, too. I don’t think you can reduce it to just one measure.”

“I have seen some of it, yes.”

“Yes. Ideally, we would like to make progress even more quickly because, as you say, otherwise by the time you get to our response—”

“I would have to look at that specific—”

“With respect, I would need to come back to you on what the OEP specifically said. What we are very clear about is that we need a complete overhaul of the water system. We need an integrated regulator, a single regulator, because as I said, the current regulators—and we have four, as you know. We have Ofwat, we have—”

“So you know about that, obviously. We want to improve the situation, but that is going to require once-in-a-generation reform of the system that we inherited, which has been in place, as you know, since 1989, since privatisation. Nobody is happy with the situation as we find it.”

“In some areas it is urgent, and in other areas we are making even more progress than we thought we were. It really does depend on the target you are talking about. For example, we are making quite good progress on air quality, but in other areas—we will be honest about this—we face challenges. In some of the target are…”

“We are trying to improve the system.”

“I have been in role since 5 September, as you know, and we are trying to ensure that we improve the system even before we get legislation. As you all know, having been here longer than I have, it takes quite some time to get legislation through both Houses. Do I think that any of the regulators has done enough? I think…”

“Do I think the other regulators have done a good enough job? No. That is why we are completely rewiring the system and setting up a new regulator.”

“To the last bit of your question, obviously, as you would expect, I was very involved. That is something I worked on across government, and I think we reached a good position, which is significantly increasing the threshold. However, we have retained the policy, which is obviously that if you have land that is worth ov…”

“It is complicated because it is about timing. The up-front money comes from the people who have invested in the water companies, but it is recovered over time.”

“Thank you for the question. We are one Government, and I work very closely with my predecessor. Obviously, he is in the same building as me, just up the corridor at MHCLG. Certainly, from my perspective and the Government’s perspective, it is good that we have a Secretary of State for Housing who knows DEFRA and some o…”

“If you would like to nationalise the water industry, you need to work out which taxes you are going to put up or which areas of public spending you are going to choose not to spend money on. Obviously, nationalising the whole thing would cost an enormous amount of money and take an enormous amount of time.”

“Thank you for that philosophical question. I do not really agree, but I respect the opinion you have just read out. I do think that we can both grow the economy and protect nature, and we have set out some of the measures that we have been taking around the Planning and Infrastructure Act, where we take a different app…”

“Soon, I hope.”