Written questions by Mierlo.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer provided on the 9th December to question 97007, if she can outline the (a) local and (b) national stakeholders who she will engage with during the initial scoping work and set out a timeline for the initial scoping work .

The Bathing Water Regulations were updated in November 2025 and implementation is underway. Defra, the Welsh Government, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales have jointly held two stakeholder workshops, with follow-up engagement ongoing. Defra continues to review evidence on the environmental and public health implications of expanding the definition of a bather.

Food and Rural Affairs, Pursuant to the answer provided on the 2nd March to question 115773, to provide an update on the evidence review to consider the environmental and public health implications of a change to expand the definition of bather to include other recreation water users.

The Bathing Water Regulations were updated in November 2025 and implementation is underway. Defra, the Welsh Government, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales have jointly held two stakeholder workshops, with follow-up engagement ongoing. Defra continues to review evidence on the environmental and public health implications of expanding the definition of a bather.

Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to respond to the letter of 7 March 2026 from the Hon. Member for Henley and Thame and the Hon. Member for Earley and Woodley on the invitation to visit the flood affected areas bordering their constituencies.

A reply is being prepared and will be issued to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timetable is for publishing her Department's full response to the Biodiversity Net Gain consultation.

On 15 April 2026 we published the Government response to the summer 2025 consultations: BNG for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) and Improving BNG implementation for minor, medium and brownfield development. On the same date we launched a new consultation on an additional targeted exemption for residential brownfield development, which closes on 10 June 2026.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her department has had with Ofwat, the Environment Agency, and Natural England regarding the application of the duty of candour to water companies in relation to the duties and offences in the Public Office (Accountability) Bill.

The Government set out its new vision for water through a White Paper published on 20 January 2026. To truly turn around the water sector we need the right people in to do the job. We want the sector to be attractive to high quality senior leaders, acting in the public interest, who can lead change from the top. To achieve this, the Government committed in the White Paper to consider taking forward a new regime for senior accountability. This would be carefully designed to ensure senior leaders are directly accountable for the service customers receive, whilst still allowing water companies to appoint capable leadership.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to introduce a formalised interdepartmental framework to help prevent gaps in planning between her Department and the Home Office on issues with potential animal‑welfare impacts.

A formalised interdepartmental framework is not required. Defra works closely with the Home Office across a range of policy areas where there are potential animal welfare impacts. Moreover, Government policy proposals are subject to the standard processes of collective agreement which provides a further opportunity for departments to coordinate effectively and ensure that any cross-cutting issues are fully considered.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies on pollutant reduction within river improvement programmes of the report by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology entitled Review of the Classification Framework for Ecological Status/Potential under the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) England and Wales Regulations, published in July 2025.

In 2025, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) published an independent review of the suitability of the Water Framework Directive ecological classification framework for measuring and assessing the health of the water environment. Among its suggestions was to employ a ‘surface waterbody biodiversity audit’ to inform policies on reducing pollution to the water environment. We committed in the recently published Water White Paper to explore setting new ambitious targets for the water environment and are considering a wide range of inputs as part of these explorations, including the UKCEH report. Meanwhile, we continue to work towards our obligation to secure continuous improvement for the water environment.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the water regulator replacing Ofwat will have prosecution powers.

The Government has set out its ambition to create a powerful new water regulator, bringing together the relevant functions from the existing regulators (Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Environment Agency and Natural England) into one new body. This will replace the current fragmented system with one regulator capable of integrated management of the water system. Defra is developing the design and operating model of the new regulator and will ensure the regulator has robust enforcement powers. These reforms will be set out in a future water reform bill.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is she taking as a result of HM Governments report titled Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security, published on 20 January 2026.

The Nature security assessment forms part of routine cross-government resilience planning and complements the UK’s National Security Strategy, National Risk Register and Chronic Risk Analysis. Climate change and nature loss act as risk multipliers, increasing pressures on food systems, water security and global stability. Assessing these risks helps ensure the UK is better prepared to anticipate, respond to, and mitigate future challenges. Defra, along with other Government Departments, is already taking action to address the potential risks identified in the assessment. Internationally, the UK is investing in forest and ocean protection and is on track to invest £11.6bn of International Climate Finance between 2021 to 2026, including £3bn for vital habitats such as tropical rainforests, and marine ecosystems, and to support indigenous communities. The UK is also taking action domestically: tree planting in England is at its highest rate in over twenty years; we are restoring peatlands, improving water quality, protecting pollinators, and have introduced landmark legislation to safeguard our marine environment. We are strengthening supply chain resilience through the Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy and supporting food security by backing British farmers through new technology, streamlined regulation, and nature-friendly farming schemes that reward sustainable production.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish a timeline for the UK and Welsh Governments to jointly publish the 2026 Transition Plan, accompanied by interim strategic guidance for the current regulators, and to introduce the Water Reform Bill to Parliament.

The Transition Plan is part of our plan to reform the sector and will be published in due course. It will describe the transitional arrangements to enable the stable, successful delivery of reforms, and will be accompanied by a new Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat and a Ministerial Direction for the Environment Agency.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will provide an update on her Department's work with FTI consultancy on contingency planning for potential collapse of Thames Water, including (a) spend so far (b) planned spending, (c) number of hours billed to date, (d) number of consultants who have worked on the account and (e) the date the contract was agreed.

We work closely with FTI Consulting in their role as the Government’s advisor on Special Administration Regime contingency planning and continue to monitor the situation.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 9th December 2025 to question 97007 on Bathing water (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2025, when she will publish the detail on Bathing water status reforms included in the Water White Paper.

The Water White Paper sets out wide-ranging reforms to the water system, intended to clean up our rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The Bathing Water (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2025 do not feature in the white paper, but form part of this wider reform, as an early step towards these same objectives. In our response to the consultation on amending the bathing water regulations, the Government noted the support for expanding the definition of a bather to include other recreational water users. Work has begun on an evidence review to consider the environmental and public health implications of any change. Link to 97007: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

Food and Rural Affairs, (a) what estimate she has made of the proportion of the £104 billion investment package that will be funded through higher customer bills rather than through water company capital investment and (b) what safeguards will be put in place to protect consumers from bill increases linked to the £104 billion investment programme.

The Government has secured a record £104 billion investment package to upgrade England’s water infrastructure by 2030. This investment will be funded through a combination of water company capital investment and customer bills, but the precise split cannot yet be confirmed. Affordability must be at the core of any future investment plans, and proposed bill impacts will be assessed through the statutory impact assessment for the Water Reform Bill. The Government have already taken action to protect customers. Funding for vital infrastructure is now ringfenced so it can only be spent on upgrades that benefit consumers and the environment. Where companies fail to deliver promised investment, they will be required to return money to customers through lower bills. Alongside this, we are strengthening safeguards for households, including reforms to WaterSure, expanding social tariff support, and introducing a new independent Water Ombudsman to ensure complaints are resolved quickly and fairly.

Food and Rural Affairs, when her department will confirm plans for the Environment Agency to hold a separate, stand alone bridges construction and maintenance budget to run alongside budgets for Locks & Weirs.

Environment Agency owned bridges along the non-tidal Thames are part of the overall Navigation infrastructure. Construction and maintenance allocations for the Environment Agency’s Navigation assets has already been set for the current Spending Review period. This includes Locks, Weirs, Bridges and their associated assets. The Environment Agency is also developing a partnership funding mechanism to accelerate specific bridge refurbishment projects. This will increase the overall amount of bridge construction and maintenance that the Environment Agency can deliver and help towards creating a sustainable Navigation service.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's White Paper entitled A New Vision for Water, published on 20 January 2026, what assessments he has made of the potential impact of the proposed joined‑up local planning measures on the prevention of surface‑to‑foul water misconnections in new housing developments.

In the White Paper Defra has committed to delivering an enhanced, better joined up regional water planning function. This will enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning which supports delivery of national strategic objectives such as the economic growth mission, housing building targets and nature recovery, whilst enabling regional and local priorities to be realised. Defra is engaging a range of stakeholders to understand what works well, and where there are challenges with water sector planning, within the current river basin planning system. This engagement is helping us test emerging thinking, identifying opportunities to strengthen planning and delivery and ensure policy development is informed by practical experience as well as evidence and analysis. Property owners are legally responsible for resolving misconnected pipework on their property; public misconnections are the responsibility of water companies. Should misconnections not be resolved, the responsible party can be prosecuted; in some cases, local authorities and water companies can access private property to fix misconnections and then recover their costs from the owner.

Food and Rural Affairs, what her proposed timeline is to enact Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.

The Government is strongly committed to improving the implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS). In December 2024 we made changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to support increased delivery of SuDS. The NPPF now requires all development to use SuDS where they could have drainage impacts. We are in the process of consulting on a revised version of the NPPF, with new policies on local plans and national decision making, including flood risk and SuDS.

Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timetable is for the (a) white paper and (b) new government bill on water reform.

The White Paper will be published early this year. These reforms will underpin a new water reform bill to be introduced during this Parliament, setting the foundation for long-term change.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward the implementation timing of policy proposals to strengthen controls on waste-carrier registration; and what steps is his department currently taking to prevent unregulated operators entering the waste sector and engaging in illegal dumping.

Work has begun to draft the necessary legislative amendments for reform of the carriers, brokers, dealers regime and these will be progressed as soon as parliamentary time allows. Our planned reforms to the waste carriers, brokers and dealers regime and the waste permit exemptions regime will make it harder for rogue operators to find work in the sector and easier for regulators to take action against criminals. Our planned digital waste tracking reforms will make it harder than ever to mis-identify waste or dispose of it inappropriately. In addition, the Environment Agency’s total budget for 2025 to 2026 has increased and includes £15.6m for waste crime enforcement.  This is a more than 50% increase from 2024/25. Overall, the EA has been able to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams across England by 43 full-time staff.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the illegal waste dumped in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, whether the Government plans to increase enforcement funding.

We have increased the Environment Agency’s (EA’s) budget for waste crime enforcement by over 50% this year to £15.6 million. The EA-hosted Joint Unit for Waste Crime has nearly doubled in size thanks to our extra funding. The Unit brings together the EA, HMRC, National Crime Agency, the Police and waste regulators from across the UK to share intelligence and tasking to disrupt and prevent serious organised waste crime. Overall, the EA has been able to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams by 43 full-time staff. This will be targeted at activities identified as waste crime priorities using enforcement activity data and criminal intelligence. These include tackling organised crime groups, increasing enforcement activity around specific areas of concern such as landfill sites, closing down illegal waste sites more quickly, using intelligence more effectively, and delivering successful major criminal investigations.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of exempting all small sites from biodiversity net gain on the UK's progress in meeting its legally-binding biodiversity targets.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) plays a vital role in protecting nature and the Government expects it to make an important contribution to meeting legally binding environmental targets. We have heard from developers, local authorities, and ecologists that BNG needs to work better for some of the smallest developments. Recently announced reforms will make the process simpler for small developers while maintaining nature recovery at scale. A full response to the BNG consultations is expected in the new year.