To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research his Department or its agencies are conducting into (a) water rates and (b) unmetered water charging. (142258)

The Government commissioned and published research into alternative methods of water charging, both measured and unmeasured, in their review of water charging in 1998-99. We are currently updating this research, looking at the distributional impacts of a range of measured and unmeasured tariffs, and will report later this year.