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Flood and Water Management Bill

My Lords, I support my noble friend’s opposition to the clause not standing part. I speak perhaps on behalf of all those who increasingly try to grow their own food. As the Minister knows very well, even this Government—some of us might say belatedly—have come to recognise that food security is very important. Whereas in recent years it was declining, there is now a keen and growing interest in allotments, and many families are trying to grow more in their gardens, even if only on patio areas. I shall not repeat what my colleagues said about professional gardeners, because that is another matter. However, the most important thing that we have heard from today’s contributions is that, where two different water companies within the same area are dealing with the same problem in the same climatic conditions, they should be given a very clear steer as to how that might be approached. Clearly, the situation in Cumbria would be different from that in the south-west, and even more so in the south-east, and in Lincolnshire and East Anglia. However, even in those areas, water companies will sometimes overlap. I hope that the Minister will be able to give us an indication as to when these codes of conduct will be produced. Ideally they should be produced before the Bill passes but I presume that that will not be possible with Parliament proroguing very shortly. I conclude by adding my support for my noble friend’s contribution—particularly the way that he approached the question of using water at different times and in different ways. I know that when the water Bill went through the House about five years ago, we had quite a long debate in this Room about the whole question of how irrigation could be used and about the way that traditionally businesses had been able to draw water, which will obviously be more restricted in future. I think that this is the first legislation on this matter since that time and we need to ensure that we get it right.