water – The Church of England in Parliament

Bishop of Newcastle asks about environmental impact of AI data centres

The Bishop of Newcastle asked a question on the environmental impact of AI data centres during a discussion on artificial intelligence legislation on 21st July 2025:

The Lord Bishop of Newcastle: My Lords, I am very pleased that Blyth in north-east England has been chosen as the site of a new AI data centre. This represents good investment in training and skills and in transport infrastructure. However, data centres have a lot of impact on the environment and local communities, particularly in terms of water shortages. What ongoing assessment has been done of the impact, particularly on water shortages in local communities?

Bishop of St Albans asks about report on water quality in the UK

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 5th June 2025:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Water Quality Monitoring Network Annual Report 2023/24 published by the Angling Trust on 20 May.

Bishop of Norwich highlights need for cultural change among water company leadership

The Bishop of Norwich spoke in a debate on ensuring fines paid by water companies are used to repair damage to the sewage system on 6th February 2025, stressing the need for cultural change among water company leadership

The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Grender, for securing this timely debate. It is a scourge on us all that sewage pollution is damaging so many of our watercourses and coastlines—damaging their ecosystems but also our enjoyment of them. I remember my first experience of such pollution when, as a young lad, I caught sticklebacks in my hands from the ditches around our Yorkshire village. One day, I went to my usual place of good stickleback hunting to find it putrid, with a storm drain leaking sewage and items—at the time, I did not understand what they were—floating in the ditch. The sticklebacks were gone for over a year.

Bishop of St Albans asks about monitoring of illegal sewage discharges

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 18th November 2024:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that the Environment Agency is able to monitor and investigate illegal sewage discharges.

Archbishop of Canterbury asks about measures to ensure financial stability of water companies

On 23rd July 2024, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked a question on over-return to shareholders in water companies and whether the government plans to put in place measures to prevent this, during a discussion on the financial resilience of England’s water industry:

The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: I join in congratulating the noble Baroness on her appointment. Picking up on the previous question, which is very much the point, is it not true that the shareholders of Thames Water and others have made extraordinary returns by financial engineering, well in excess of what one would expect to make from a utility, which should be low risk and low reward? In looking at the future structure, will the Government put in place measures to prevent the over-return to shareholders by means of financial engineering, and limit the upside so that utilities are run basically for their customers and not simply for the short-term gain of those who have them?

Bishop of St Albans asks about controlling water pollution

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 17th October 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, following the plans to relax nutrient neutrality rules, what (1) statutory, or (2) other, measures, they will take to promote compliance among developers.

Votes: Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

On 13th September 2023, the House of Lords debated the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill in the Report stage. Votes were held on amendments to the Bill, in which Bishops took part:

Bishop of St Albans asks about United Nations World Water Development Report

The Bishop of St Albans asked a question on the government’s assessment of the United Nations World Water Development Report on 28th March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the United Nations World Water Development Report, published on 15 March.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con): My Lords, the UK supports the findings of the UN World Water Development Report 2023. We agree that partnership and co-operation are key to achieving sustainable development goal 6: equitable access to water and sanitation for all. However, delivery is far off track, particularly on accountability, political leadership and finance. At last week’s UN water conference I called for increased action in these areas and announced a new £18.5 million water sanitation and hygiene—WASH—system for health programme, as well as seed funding for a new £38 million water programme.

Bishop of St Albans asks about water quality improvement

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 8th March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve water quality in Hertfordshire.

Lord Benyon (Con): Improving water quality remains a government priority. We have set new targets under the Environment Act to address major pressures on water. This will significantly reduce pollution from agriculture, wastewater treatment works and abandoned metal mines pollution.

Bishop of St Albans asks about water pollution

The Bishop of St Albans asked a question about government discussions with water companies regarding pollution on 1st March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have had with water companies regarding water pollution.

Lord Benyon (Con): My Lords, the current environmental performance of water companies is unacceptable. In December 2022, the Water Minister and the Secretary of State met with CEOs of lagging water companies—as identified by Ofwat’s recent assessment—to outline the Government’s expectations that performance must improve significantly. Furthermore, in January, my colleague Rebecca Pow met with the CEO of South West Water. She will be meeting the CEOs of all lagging companies individually every six months and she expects to see significant progress. Most recently, I also met CEOs of water companies with Minister Pow to highlight the importance of addressing water pollution and reaching their net-zero goals.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: