Speeches by Reed.

“Very respectfully, I completely disagree with them, given that we could have been sat here this morning talking about a reduction in UK quotas, increased access of EU vessels into UK territorial waters, no investment fund for those communities and potentially, had there not been the kind of deal that we have got, no in…”

“It is due to be published after the summer recess, is it not?”

“I will give you a response, but my colleague here, who has some professional expertise in that sector, might have something to add to it. We are looking at food labelling as part of the food strategy. That is a piece of work that we are carrying out with stakeholders from right across the food and drink sector without …”

“Those are all very sensible things to look for in it. I have not seen it, so I cannot answer those questions, but any sensible strategy has an implementation plan attached to it so that we know what needs to change in law and when it will change. Those companies that are being required to carry out this testing need to…”

“I completely agree.”

“This is interesting, because it is a cross-departmental agenda. DEFRA has a role in it, as do the Home Office and DSIT. The Departments are working together on a strategy that will be published later this year, so we will see more of the detail when it comes out. It is probably best that I do not anticipate what might …”

“We remain committed to all of that. Of course, there are still four years of the Parliament to run, so we will find the appropriate time in the parliamentary and legislative schedule to make sure that those can happen. They remain commitments. We have the schedule only for the current session, not for future sessions, …”

“Local authorities have many statutory duties, including the ones that you are describing. For some years now, they have been saying that funding has become so inadequate that they may not be able to carry out those statutory duties, not only on animal welfare but on issues such as child welfare and support for the elde…”

“Those are good points. Enforcement is carried out by a range of partners, agencies and organisations, and DEFRA maintains very close contact with them to ensure that it is happening in the way that it should. The Home Office has oversight of the police, who have a role in this, as does the Ministry of Justice. NGOs suc…”

“—but it will do that within the rules. The rules are very clear. The regulations are very clear. My intention is that Thames will follow the regulations and the rules as they apply to everyone else.”

“No, not that aspect of it. It is for it to look at who it wants to bring in as a potential investor to resolve some of the financial challenges of its own making that it is dealing with at the moment—”

“It is a private company. It is for it to—”

“We are engaging regularly with the EA over the state of the weather. Of course, we have not had rain for quite a long time this early in the year. That is worrying. We are not at the point where there is a drought yet, but water companies are required to have drought plans that they refresh every five years. Those plan…”

“I will bring in my colleague here in a moment, who I am sure will have a more detailed response to give you than I do. Of course, I had the opportunity to meet some of the businesses in the beautiful town of Rye when you invited me down there, and to hear their frustration at the extent of the water outages, the lack o…”

“Thames is a private company, and it is for it to sort out its own finances. As you will be aware, because it is in the public domain, it is currently in conversations with its creditors about new sources of equity and the status of those creditors’ debt. It is for it to manage those conversations. Government are closel…”

“I agree with you. The Committee has its own authority and powers, and will deal with that in the way that the Committee feels is appropriate. As for what the Government are doing, we have enacted the Water (Special Measures) Bill. I took those actions within seven days of the election, including ringfencing customers’ …”

“They will not be doing that. I was very clear in public that the Government would take any action necessary to prevent them trying to circumvent the ban that we have now put in law. They have now withdrawn their proposal to make those payments.”

“It is fair to say that the situation in the water sector had become intolerable. The system was failing everyone. It was failing customers. It was failing the environment. It was failing investors as well. That is why I have asked Sir Jon Cunliffe to lead a piece of work—and we are due to see the interim report later t…”

“Yes, those are in scope.”

“Sorry, David will comment on that. On your points, Baroness Batters has a small team that she is working with, and they are doing a lot of outreach work into the sector. It is hard to think of anyone who is better networked in the farming sector than Baroness Batters. Six months is enough time to get a piece of work do…”