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Flood and Water Management Bill

I do not know whether others in the House are aware of this, but the Minister had a series of discussions between the end of the Committee stage and the Bill's remaining stages today. It would be extremely helpful, first, if he would take this opportunity to report to the House on the reassurance that he has given the water companies, so that we can have on the record the exact statement that he wished to make to them—the one that he assured them that he wished to make to them—and, secondly, if he could confirm that that is said on the basis of Pepper v. Hart, so that if we do not press our amendments, we shall have an assurance that his statement will be justiciable and can be relied on as an indication of how the Bill is to be interpreted subsequently.