During 4 and 5 November, the effects of Storm Ciarán caused Thames Water\u2019s Shalford Water Treatment Works in Guildford to shut down. Approximately 20,000 properties in Guildford had their water supply disrupted. Most properties were back on supply on 8 November and mains water supply has now been restored to all impacted properties.<\/p>
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Defra officials were in close contact with Thames Water throughout the incident to ensure appropriate support was provided to impacted customers. This included the opening of three bottled water stations, and regular deliveries to vulnerable customers.<\/p>
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On 9 November Defra\u2019s Environment Minister, Rebecca Pow, spoke with Cathryn Ross, joint CEO Thames Water, to discuss lessons and seek assurances that further mitigations will be implemented to avoid future incidents. This was followed up with a further conversation on Tuesday Nov 14. Thames Water is also producing a detailed report for the Drinking Water Inspectorate, who will undertake a full assessment.<\/p>
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Ensuring water companies have strong levels of resilience is a Government priority, as set out in our Plan for Water published in April 2023. Earlier this year, regional water resources groups and water companies, including Thames Water, consulted on their draft Water Resource Management Plans. Within their plans, water companies must consider all options, including demand management and water resources infrastructure for at least the next 25 years.<\/p>
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Water companies are also using the £469 million made available by Ofwat in the current Price Review period (2020-2025) to investigate strategic water resources options, which are required to improve the resilience of England\u2019s water supplies. Ofwat also recently announced that water companies are bringing forward £2.2 billion for new water infrastructure delivery, over the next two years, with £350 million worth of investment in water resilience schemes. Thames Water has committed to invest in building a new 9km water transfer pipeline to connect parts of the Guildford area to an alternative source of water. Works are scheduled to start in early 2024.<\/p>
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The Government and regulators will continue to closely monitor Thames Water\u2019s performance and will not hesitate to hold them to account if they fall short.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1547", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Benyon"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Benyon"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2023-11-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2023-11-21T12:40:22.737Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "13"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2023-11-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Water Supply: Surrey"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the restoration of water supply in areas of Surrey left without water following Storm Ciarán; and to ensure that the impact of similar future incidents is minimised.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1796", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Taylor of Warwick"} ], "uin" : "HL74"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1461088", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Work and Pensions"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1461088/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
No such assessment has been made.<\/p>
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Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation. There is no consistent and accurate measure of food bank usage at a constituency or national level.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4174", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Stedman-Scott"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-05-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-05-24T16:54:13.457Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "29"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-05-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Food Poverty"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Trussell Trust on 27 April that over 2 million people in the UK relied on food parcels in 2021/22 in order to prevent hunger and malnutrition; and whether they are developing policies to meet both short-term and long-term food needs.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2018", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hylton"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Hylton"} ], "uin" : "HL74"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1313682", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department of Health and Social Care"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1313682/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Decisions to place countries, including Cayman Islands, on the \u2018green list\u2019 are taken by Ministers informed by evidence including the Joint Biosecurity Centre\u2019s analysis as well as other relevant information about the risk of the spread of variant. The advice, evidence and methodology which informs these decisions relates to on-going development of Government policy and therefore cannot be published at this time.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4708", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Bethell"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Bethell"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2021-05-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2021-05-21T13:22:03.157Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2021-05-11", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Travel: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Cayman Islands are not on the list of 'green' countries for entering England.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1251", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Naseby"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Naseby"} ], "uin" : "HL74"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }