It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship once more, Sir George. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for East Devon (Simon Jupp) on securing it and for raising such important issues in his opening remarks. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Richard Foord) on raising important points, and I welcome him as a new friend to the Opposition Benches.
In a nutshell, we have a water crisis in this country. People up and down England are simply and rightly sick and tired of the impact that sewage discharges continue to have on our streams, rivers, seas and local economies. They are sick and tired of leaks, burst pipes and poor-quality water. It is clear to all of us that Ministers need to get a grip of this crisis—sooner rather than later.
Today, we have had the opportunity to look at and address the evidently poor performance of South West Water. Colleagues will know that Ofwat—the regulator—and the Environment Agency publish annual reports measuring water companies’ performance against their performance level commitments and environmental obligations. In their most recent reports covering performance in 2021, both regulators gave South West Water their lowest performance rating. As we have already heard, that is a matter of huge concern for the hon. Member for East Devon. It is also of concern to my right hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) and my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard). They who would have liked to have been here but, due to prior commitments, they are unable to attend.
South West Water was also criticised for a lack of capital investment, as has been mentioned. Across the water sector, poor planning, a lack of investment and neglect of our vital infrastructure has left us with a system that leaks more than a trillion tonnes of water every year and spills raw sewage into our natural environment hundreds of thousands of times a year. As a result of Ofwat’s assessment, South West Water will be required to pay a fine of £13.3 million in the form of lower bills for consumers. The repeated and unacceptable failures of water companies are devastating whole regions in England, our coastlines, and the livelihoods and health and wellbeing of our people.