To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of the costs of climate change adaptation on the Ofwat Price Review 2009; and if he will make a statement. (241186)

In August water and sewerage companies submitted draft business plans to Ofwat. In those plans they laid out the proposed level of expenditure for improving their systems' resilience to hazards such as climate change.

In October, Ofwat published its report, ‘Setting price limits for 2010-15: Overview of companies' draft business plans’. This shows that almost £1 billion of investment had been proposed by water and sewerage companies to increase resilience to a variety of hazards including climate change.

Ofwat is challenging these draft plans before final business plans are submitted in April 2009.

Further information on what companies have proposed in their draft business plans is available in Ofwat's report, which can be accessed on the Ofwat website.