Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Water (21st June 2011)
Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the Natural EnvironmentWhite Paper, what her timetable is for implementation of measures to deliver investment to meet future water demand and protect ecosystems.
Richard Benyon (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Natural Environment and Fisheries), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Newbury, Conservative)
We are currently considering how we can reform the abstraction regime to provide clearer signals to abstractors to make the necessary investments to meet water needs and protect ecosystems. Further details will be announced in the Water White Paper, due for publication by December.