Independent Water Commission
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the (a) evidence base and (b) consultation submissions used to inform the findings and recommendations of the final report of the Independent Water Commission, published on 21 July 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy
The Independent Water Commission was established to operate independently of Government. It is therefore for the Commission, not the Government, to decide whether to publish the evidence base and consultation submissions that informed its final report.
The Independent Water Commission sought to collect a broad range of views on the challenges that the water system faces in England and Wales. As such the Commission ran a Call for Evidence that received over 50,000 responses, from a wide range of individuals, groups and organisations. Further detail on how the Call for Evidence was run and the stakeholders that engaged with it can be found in the Final Summary of Responses in Annex A which is accessible on Gov.uk.
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