Future water resources
This briefing sets out the challenges for future water resources in England. It covers future water resource forecasts, policy and legislation, and planned actions to address the water supply deficit.

Political agreement was reached on the major elements of the reform of the Common Agriculural Policy for 2014-2020 on 26 June 2013. This note sets out the main elements of the agreement with stakeholder comment. Some issues are still being discussed at European level following overall EU budget agreements and the flexibility of the reform deal means that key implmenentation decisions are to follow in the UK.
CAP Reform 2014-2020: Reaching Agreement (185 KB , PDF)
The EU Council of Ministers, European Parliament and Commission came to a political agreement on the future rules for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) at the end of June 2013. This agreement follows two years of negotiation since the Commission published detailed reform proposals in 2011.
The new agreement includes: a new Basic Payment scheme which will represent 70% of a Member State’s Direct Payments to farmers, a requirement to use 30% of their allocation to give a ‘greening payment’ to farmers for required farming practices supporting environmental improvements, and an end to sugar beet production quotas in 2017. Most Direct Payment (Pillar 1) reforms will come into play in January 2015 with 2014 acting as a transitional year.
The Government has said that the package agreed is an acceptable outcome for the UK but is not the genuine reform that it had been hoping for. However, the UK Government did secure a great deal of flexibility within the package for Member States to tailor their national approaches to their own particular needs. This should be a potential benefit for UK farmers but it means that implementation details are still being developed in-country and regionally and hence the exact impacts of the new arrangements for UK farmers are still not completely clear.
The National Farmers Union is concerned that the UK will use the considerable flexibility within the agreement to reduce Direct Payments to farmers and to “goldplate” the environmental requirements. Meanwhile, the greening element of the agreement has been criticised by some environmental organisations as a missed opportunity by not going far enough.
Some parts of the agreement are still under discussion as they were dependent on the overall agreement of the EU budget. Negotiations regarding transfers of funding between Pillars 1 and 2, external convergence and restrictions on the highest subsidies are now being overseen by the Lithuanian Presidency and are expected to be finalised in December 2013.
This note will be developed over the next few months to include emerging implementation details and stakeholder comment across the UK, as well as more statistical information.
CAP Reform 2014-2020: Reaching Agreement (185 KB , PDF)
This briefing sets out the challenges for future water resources in England. It covers future water resource forecasts, policy and legislation, and planned actions to address the water supply deficit.
This paper provides statistics on household food insecurity, food bank usage and free school meals in the UK, and tracks the impact of rising living costs.
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 second reading debate was adjourned, and is scheduled to continue on 4 July 2025, if there is time in the sitting. The Library briefing provides an overview of the bill and background information.