Member

I turn to Amendment 104 in the name of my noble friend Lord Gascoigne, which I have also signed. He addressed it with passion, and I obviously support it. Water companies have a unique opportunity to be involved in nature and biodiversity recovery thanks to their reliance on their catchments for the provision of the water they need and their detailed knowledge of those catchments as a result. However, at present the regulators do not allow the industry to invest in nature-based solutions for long-term objectives as freely as other solutions to their problems. I would be most grateful if the Minister could explain exactly what the water companies are able to do within their regulated returns calculations on nature-based solutions.