Lords follow up Ofwat inquiry by hearing from Water UK and National Infrastructure Commission
Friday 9 June 2023
The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee will follow up its inquiry on the work of Ofwat, the UK’s water regulator, by taking evidence from representatives of Water UK and the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) from 10.30am on Tuesday 13 June.
The session can be followed live on Parliament TV or in person in Committee Room 2, Palace of Westminster.
Giving evidence at 10:30 will be:
- Professor Jim Hall FREng, Commissioner, National Infrastructure Commission
- Ed Beard, Assistant Director, National Infrastructure Commission
Possible questions include:
- What is your overall view of the policies set out in the Government’s Plan for Water, and to what extent do you think they will be deliverable in practice?
- To what extent will the likely level of infrastructure investment required be funded by increased customer bills?
- What steps do you think should be taken to improve understanding and management of the current and future health of water company assets?
Giving evidence at 11:30 will be:
- David Henderson, Chief Executive, Water UK
- Stuart Colville, Director of Policy, Water UK
Possible questions include:
- To what extent do you think the Plan for Water provides a clear policy basis to address well-documented issues in relation to sewage discharged from storm overflows?
- If customer bills do increase, what additional support would water companies provide to vulnerable customers, given the current cost-of-living crisis?
- Ofwat has recently published plans to tighten its scrutiny of executive pay. To what extent will water companies be taking responsibility for this by not awarding bonuses while poor environmental performance continues?
- What progress are companies making on increasing water metering, and should it be made compulsory to the greatest extent possible?
