Water Bill 2024-25
The Water Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 16 October 2024, and its second reading took place on 28 March 2025. The Library briefing provides an overview of the bill and background information.

Key data and pressures facing the retail sector in the UK.
Retail sector in the UK (769 KB , PDF)
The retail sector is going through a prolonged period of upheaval – the Centre for Retail Research have described the industry as undergoing a “permacrisis” since the 2008 financial crash.
Factors such as changing consumer behaviour, increased internet shopping and challenging economic conditions are changing the way retailers operate and engage with their customers. The coronavirus pandemic and increased cost of living have added to these challenges and accelerated trends such as increased online shopping and closures of retail premises.
This briefing paper describes the current state of the retail sector in the UK using data and recent reports on the industry. Sometimes due to data availability, data refers to Great Britain only. This briefing covers the retail sector only (not the wholesale sector) and does not provide information on government policy in the retail sector.
In 2024, retail sales in Great Britain were worth £517 billion, an increase of 1.4% on 2023. For every pound spent in 2024:
At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, retail sales fell dramatically as lockdown restrictions closed non-essential retail stores. Trends in retail sales were erratic for the remainder of 2020 and 2021, though overall, broadly returned to pre-pandemic levels from March 2021. Since August 2022, retail sales have generally fallen back below pre-pandemic levels, with the exception of sales in household goods stores, which have remained above pre-pandemic levels.
Internet sales have been rising since 2008 (when ONS data began) reaching around 20% of all retail sales in Great Britain in 2019. Online sales rose sharply at the onset of the pandemic as physical stores were closed, reaching a record high of 37% in February 2021. Internet sales as a proportion of all retail sales have generally fallen since February 2021, though remain above pre-pandemic levels. Internet retailing is more popular in the UK than other European countries and the USA.
Figures from the Centre for Retail Research indicate 34 retail companies with multiple stores ceased trading in 2024, affecting 7,537 stores and 55,914 employees. This was the highest number of stores affected in a calendar year since the Centre for Retail Research have been collating this data in 2007. Despite this record high, the number of employees affected was much lower than in previous years with high levels of stores closures. This was attributed to high levels of store closures among small and independent retailers, typically operating between one and five stores, which generally employ fewer staff.
Retail sector in the UK (769 KB , PDF)
The Water Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 16 October 2024, and its second reading took place on 28 March 2025. The Library briefing provides an overview of the bill and background information.
This briefing sets out information on sewage discharges. It focuses on England. It covers what sewage discharges are, why these happen, legislation and targets, and an overview of progress.
This interactive dashboard allows you to browse data on sewage discharges in England, by constituency, river, and water company.