Written questions by Trickett.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025, to Question 38543 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, if he will publish his calculations on the savings by delivering the scheme through DPC.

Bill impacts will be considered as part of Ofwat’s DPC approval process. In providing its consent to a water company to enter into a DPC contract, Ofwat will take into consideration the impact on customer interests, including the impact on bills. For example, through its pathfinder DPC project for United Utilities' Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Project, Ofwat included the estimated bill impact during the AMP8 period in United Utilities published Price Review 2024 Final Determination. Ofwat will share future estimated bill impacts when projects have progressed, and the estimations have been made. Ofwat's initial indication based on pathfinder is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% through delivering a scheme as a DPC. The full programme of all major projects is listed in PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery, but bill impacts will not be known until companies have finished the procurement process and final bids are received and approved.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025 to Question 38543 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, whether he has made an estimate of how much DPC schemes costs will increase household water bills.

Bill impacts will be considered as part of Ofwat’s DPC approval process. In providing its consent to a water company to enter into a DPC contract, Ofwat will take into consideration the impact on customer interests, including the impact on bills. For example, through its pathfinder DPC project for United Utilities' Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Project, Ofwat included the estimated bill impact during the AMP8 period in United Utilities published Price Review 2024 Final Determination. Ofwat will share future estimated bill impacts when projects have progressed, and the estimations have been made. Ofwat's initial indication based on pathfinder is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% through delivering a scheme as a DPC. The full programme of all major projects is listed in PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery, but bill impacts will not be known until companies have finished the procurement process and final bids are received and approved.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2025 to Question 36586 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of each Direct Procurement for Customers scheme on the annual cost of water bills for households in Yorkshire.

Prior to entering into a DPC arrangement, Ofwat considers the value for money of delivering the project as a DPC and also the impact on customer bills. The impacts on customer bills are unlikely to be known until a procurement for a scheme has been run, when the capital and operational costs of the project will be better understood. Currently the estimates provided through the price review are not mature estimates and are likely to change as the projects develop. Our initial indication based on pathfinder projects is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% by delivering a scheme through DPC.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff their Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024.

Since July 2024 we have had no staff seconded into Defra from Hakluyt.

Food and Rural Affairs, what the annual additional cost to households will be of each of Yorkshire Water’s four Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) schemes; and what the additional cost will be per household for each (a) DPC and (b) Specified Infrastructure Project (SIPR) scheme broken down by water company region.

Yorkshire Water has four direct procurement schemes as listed in the table below with the estimated whole life totex (total expenditure) for each scheme as detailed in Ofwat's PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery. These schemes will be mainly delivered in conjunction with other water companies or organisations as shown in the table below. Ofwat’s final determinations provide Yorkshire Water with a major project development allowance of £97.16 million to fund pre-construction development, commercial and procurement strategies, land acquisition and enabling works. The allowances will be reflected in the wholesale revenue limits set for the 2025- 30 period. Delivery of projects through DPC or SIPR competitive models means that for each project, the level of bill impact cannot be confirmed until final bids are received and evaluated, and Ofwat have approved that it is in customers' best interests to proceed with the project. Company(s)Project NameProject TypeDelivery ModelWhole life totex (£m)Construction start dateYorkshire Water / Northumbrian Water/UUKielder Transfer SROTransferIn-House /DPC[1]1,1462032Severn Trent, Yorkshire Water and the Coal AuthorityNottinghamshire Mine Water TreatmentWater treatment/ TransferDPC7552038Yorkshire WaterWest Yorkshire Water Treatment WorksWater Treatment worksDPC3102029-30Severn Trent/ YorkshireSouth Yorkshire Sources[2]Source and TransferDPC4192031 [1] This project has some components which qualify for DPC and some which don't and will need in-house delivery.[2] Now includes York Water Treatment Works which was included in draft determinations as a project in its own right. The full programme of all 30 major projects is listed in PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery but we will not know the bill impacts until companies have finished the procurement process and final bids are received and approved.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many of his Department's officials have been seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute and (d) Labour Together since July 2024.

Since July 2024 no staff have been seconded into Defra from the Institute for Economic Affairs, the Policy Exchange, the Adam Smith Institute or Labour Together. The response to the request is Nil staff.

Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to respond to Question 31773 tabled by the hon. Member for Normanton and Hemsworth on 21 February 2025.

Question 31773 was answered on 3 March 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff his Department has seconded from Palantir since July 2024.

We have no records of staff seconded into the Department from Palantir as such the number of staff seconded in from Palantir since July 2024 is zero.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the cost of Direct Procurement for Customer schemes were included in water company business plans.

The development costs of funding Direct Procurement for Customer (DPC) schemes and Specified Infrastructure Project Regulations (SIPR) projects have been included in company business plans, as set out in Ofwat’s Major Projects Appendix. Funding is set out at individual project level and is identified as a DPC or SIPR (please see page 9). Almost all the schemes are funded via DPC and these account for £2.1 billion of development funding in PR24, and circa £50 billion whole life costs. DPC is funded separately to enhancement expenditure. The capital costs of DPC will be spread over time and funded in addition to customer bill impacts forecast through the business plan submissions. DPC costs in the main will not occur in the next investment period (2025-2030), as DPC costs are passed through to customers once assets become operational. Customer bills between 2025 and 2030 will include funding for the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme for United Utilities (delivered via DPC) and the Thames Tideway Tunnel (delivered via SIPR). Thames Water customer bills have included impacts from this scheme since 2015.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether Direct Procurement for Customer schemes are included in each water company PR24 planned enhancement.

The development costs of funding Direct Procurement for Customer (DPC) schemes and Specified Infrastructure Project Regulations (SIPR) projects have been included in company business plans, as set out in Ofwat’s Major Projects Appendix. Funding is set out at individual project level and is identified as a DPC or SIPR (please see page 9). Almost all the schemes are funded via DPC and these account for £2.1 billion of development funding in PR24, and circa £50 billion whole life costs. DPC is funded separately to enhancement expenditure. The capital costs of DPC will be spread over time and funded in addition to customer bill impacts forecast through the business plan submissions. DPC costs in the main will not occur in the next investment period (2025-2030), as DPC costs are passed through to customers once assets become operational. Customer bills between 2025 and 2030 will include funding for the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme for United Utilities (delivered via DPC) and the Thames Tideway Tunnel (delivered via SIPR). Thames Water customer bills have included impacts from this scheme since 2015.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether Ofwat's final determination for each company separates out anticipated spend on (a) direct procurement for customer projects and (b) specified infrastructure project regulations projects.

The development costs of funding Direct Procurement for Customer (DPC) schemes and Specified Infrastructure Project Regulations (SIPR) projects have been included in company business plans, as set out in Ofwat’s Major Projects Appendix. Funding is set out at individual project level and is identified as a DPC or SIPR (please see page 9). Almost all the schemes are funded via DPC and these account for £2.1 billion of development funding in PR24, and circa £50 billion whole life costs. DPC is funded separately to enhancement expenditure. The capital costs of DPC will be spread over time and funded in addition to customer bill impacts forecast through the business plan submissions. DPC costs in the main will not occur in the next investment period (2025-2030), as DPC costs are passed through to customers once assets become operational. Customer bills between 2025 and 2030 will include funding for the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme for United Utilities (delivered via DPC) and the Thames Tideway Tunnel (delivered via SIPR). Thames Water customer bills have included impacts from this scheme since 2015.

Food and Rural Affairs, what the planned spend on Direct Procurement for Customer schemes is for each water company.

The development costs of funding Direct Procurement for Customer (DPC) schemes and Specified Infrastructure Project Regulations (SIPR) projects have been included in company business plans, as set out in Ofwat’s Major Projects Appendix. Funding is set out at individual project level and is identified as a DPC or SIPR (please see page 9). Almost all the schemes are funded via DPC and these account for £2.1 billion of development funding in PR24, and circa £50 billion whole life costs. DPC is funded separately to enhancement expenditure. The capital costs of DPC will be spread over time and funded in addition to customer bill impacts forecast through the business plan submissions. DPC costs in the main will not occur in the next investment period (2025-2030), as DPC costs are passed through to customers once assets become operational. Customer bills between 2025 and 2030 will include funding for the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme for United Utilities (delivered via DPC) and the Thames Tideway Tunnel (delivered via SIPR). Thames Water customer bills have included impacts from this scheme since 2015.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the headline water bill for the 2024 price review period includes the cost of (a) direct procurement for customer and (b) specified infrastructure projects regulations schemes.

The development costs of funding Direct Procurement for Customer (DPC) schemes and Specified Infrastructure Project Regulations (SIPR) projects have been included in company business plans, as set out in Ofwat’s Major Projects Appendix. Funding is set out at individual project level and is identified as a DPC or SIPR (please see page 9). Almost all the schemes are funded via DPC and these account for £2.1 billion of development funding in PR24, and circa £50 billion whole life costs. DPC is funded separately to enhancement expenditure. The capital costs of DPC will be spread over time and funded in addition to customer bill impacts forecast through the business plan submissions. DPC costs in the main will not occur in the next investment period (2025-2030), as DPC costs are passed through to customers once assets become operational. Customer bills between 2025 and 2030 will include funding for the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme for United Utilities (delivered via DPC) and the Thames Tideway Tunnel (delivered via SIPR). Thames Water customer bills have included impacts from this scheme since 2015.