Water White Paper - New Inquiry

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee wishes to receive evidence from interested parties on the key issues raised in the White Paper, including those measures which are likely to be included in forthcoming draft Water Bill announced in the White Paper. If the Government meets its commitment to publish a draft Water Bill early in 2012 the Committee may undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft legislation.

In advance of any draft legislation, the committee is seeking evidence on whether the White Paper’s aims are supported and the likelihood of these objectives being effectively fulfilled by the approaches it proposes. Submissions are invited on these general points and on the following areas in particular:

• Does the White Paper set out the right principles for customers and the water and sewerage industry for taking forward reform of the market for water supply?
• Are the proposals to protect and enhance water resources, for example on abstraction regime reform, likely to be fully effective?
• How best can the White Paper’s aims to promote water efficiency and the use of sustainable drainage be implemented?
• Do you support the White Paper’s proposals on affordability of water bills for householders?
• Does the White Paper omit any key issues where further policy action is required to ensure sustainable, reliable and cost-effective water supplies?

The Committee invites all interested parties to address these and related matters in writing by Monday 23 January 2012. More information about the required format of submissions is given below.

For further details about this inquiry, please contact Lucy Petrie, Second Clerk to the Committee, on 020 7219 3279.

NOTES ON THE SUBMISSION OF EVIDENCE

Submissions should be in Word or rich text format and sent by e-mail to efracom@parliament.uk.  The body of the e-mail must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The e-mail should also make clear who the submission is from.

Submissions must address the matters outlined above. They should be as brief as possible, and no more than 1000 words.  Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference. 

Committees make public much of the evidence they receive during inquiries. If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the Committee, please contact the Clerk of the Committee to discuss this. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

Personal information, such as address and contact details, should be provided separately from the body of your submission. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, no public use should be made of the submission unless you have first obtained permission from the Committee.